The track was released digitally as the fourth single[1] from her sixth full-length studio album, Volta, on 7 April 2008.

[3] Björk has described "Wanderlust" as being the heart of Volta,[4] and has said that the song is about "the state of looking for something and almost knowing you're never going to find it" and that it makes fun of her hunger for "something new".

[11] The music video, directed by Isaiah Saxon and Sean Hellfritsch of Encyclopedia Pictura in New York City in stereoscopic 3D,[12] involves a mixture of large scale puppeteering, live-action acrobatics, miniatures, and CG.

[13] It was choreographed by Chris Elam, artistic director of Misnomer Dance, and features Brynne Billingsley and Coco Karol.

[14] The opening section of the video features the prelude of foghorns that precede "Wanderlust" on the album (it's included on the "Earth Intruders" track, right when the song ends).