Bjork's new album has a song which features effects that ''sound like R2-D2.''

The Icelandic singer's upcoming LP 'Utopia' has several songs that feature birdsong and on one track, 'The Gate', the sound is particularly unusual and though it comes from a recording of the animals, Bjork thinks they sound more like the loveable 'Star Wars' droid.

She said: ''I used a vinyl album of Venezuelan music I had, [Hekura-Yanomamo Shamanism From Southern Venezuela], that was recorded in the '70s - Venezuelan birds.

''The birds there sound completely different. They sound like R2-D2, or techno.

''There's one beautiful sound that ended up in the beginning of 'The Gate', a recording of these birds that Venezuelans believe are the ghosts of foetuses. If they have stillborns or young children that die, they think they go into the jungle and make these sounds. They sound like '70s analog synths. It's one of my all-time favorite noises.''

Other birds on the album included some which lived just outside of the cabin the 'Venus as a Boy' singer was staying in.

She told Pitchfork: ''Some of it was recorded in Iceland. I have a cabin by a lake, and there are a couple of pairs of Arctic Loons that live just outside there. They're really beautiful and huge. They obviously ended up on the album.''

When she was younger, Bjork felt more comfortable with animals and nature, but these days she prefers being with other people.

She said: ''When I was a kid, I was really shy. I would walk 40 minutes to school and back. I felt at one with nature and animals more so than with humans. I would find cities claustrophobic and I was not so good in social situations. But I think I'm getting better. Now, I think I actually prefer being with humans.''