In 2000, while Björk worked on the film Dancer in the Dark, she also began producing her next album, writing new music and teaming with new collaborators; she has said "Selmasongs was the day job and Vespertine was the hobby".

[3] While living in Copenhagen she also contacted the electronic musician Thomas Knak (aka Opiate), after having enjoyed his 1999 album Objects for an Ideal Home.

[10] For Ryan Schreiber of Pitchfork the track opens Vespertine with a "glitchy, almost lo-fi melodic loop, paired with the deep sub-bass attack that has dominated the low-end of Björk's music in recent years".

[11] MusicOMH's Michael Hubbard noted that it is reminiscent of Björk's previous single "Hunter" (1997), although he felt the beats were not "so central this time round".

Greg Kot from Blender magazine commented that album openers "Hidden Place" and "Cocoon" "live up to their billing as sound sanctuaries, with Björk singing a barely-above-a-whisper lullaby enhanced by the plush embrace of a choir".

[14] British magazine NME's Joe Logic was also positive saying, "'Hidden Place' is a mellow and low-key opener that combines Matmos sneezing-cricket beats with deep warm bass and a distant choir.

[15] However, Steve Granlee from The Boston Globe commented that "Hidden Place" was "a subtle update" of "Human Behaviour", but "it won't have any radio appeal".

The loop idea was a main point for us as well, trying to extend the usual time frame of pop video super-fast editing, to make it hypnotising, mesmerising and irritating, like an eternally burning fireplace.