"Stonemilker" is Vulnicura's opening track and the first of a six-part narrative that details the devastating end of Björk's relationship with American contemporary artist Matthew Barney.

"Stonemilker" was released as a promotional single in some territories in 2015 and received very limited airplay in a shortened radio edit.

On 17 December 2015, Björk appeared on the podcast Song Exploder (Episode 60)[3] where she revealed the meaning and backstory behind "Stonemilker": "It's about someone who's trying to get emotions out of another person….

She revealed how working on 2004's all-vocal album, Medúlla, refined her composing skills and helped her distribute the parts: "...I did the choir arrangements totally myself.

She described how the music needed to feel cyclical, "that it could go on forever" as a way to create "equilibrium, like the person who's singing this song is showing some sort of harmony to someone as an example."

The retrospective housed the "Black Lake" installation and Songlines exhibit in its main building while the MoMA PS1 showcased the "Stonemilker" VR music video for Oculus Rift.

[7] Björk revealed during the project's official announcement, "While I was working on Vulnicura, it became one of the most magical thing(s) both musically and spiritually to unite the electronics and the acoustic instruments in an almost romantic way: to prove they can coexist!!...

But while working on it I felt somehow for the first time, this was an album that could take another version: a reveal, to simply have the acoustics stand on their own for the folks who wanna indulge even further into the wooden timeless side of this music.

The Guardian noted its "high-drama string arrangements"[10] and said, "the chorus is a kind of gorgeous sigh, with beautiful melodies frequently sitting alongside moments of real audacity."

[12] "It bears the weight of the potentiality of the black lake that will become her heart with a hopefulness that the rest of the album exposes as crushingly misguided: Björk here bravely makes dramatic irony of her own pain."

"Stonemilker" was conceived of and shot in an afternoon using 360-degree cameras to create one of the first virtual reality music videos by a major contemporary recording artist.

The video was produced by Here Be Dragons while the special effects were created by Digital Domain, and it premiered at the MoMA PS1, MoMA's sister location, on 22 March as part of the museum's Bjork exhibit and was also briefly made available to customers of Rough Trade record shops in London (Rough Trade East) and Brooklyn, NY who purchased the physical album.

The app was created by Third Space Agency, Rewind, and 2 Big Ears and retains both the 360-degree visual and auditory experience.