Bjork's Biophilia
I’ve been wanting to write about this album since it came out but I’ve had a difficult time not just in trying to describe the music, but to figure out just what it is I’m hearing. It’s really something else. Hauntingly sparse interludes broken by violent passages of drum n’ bass noise, ambient drones and chanting giving way to fits of beautiful harmony; if anything it’s an exercise in musical dichotomies. And it works. It really works.
While it lacks the hooks and choruses of her earlier work, it’s strength lies in a bedlam of atmospheres and tones that might leaving you wondering if maybe it’s not some sort of improv free-form jazz composition — that is, were it not for an unmistakable hand-crafted purposefulness in each note, phrase, and lyric. The result is not unlike a bedhead haircut: two hours in the mirror spent making it look like you just rolled out of bed. And this, too, works — for an album about the complexities of life, of the mathematical machinations of the universe and the drifting of the continents, this sort of forced chaos becomes a rare and wonderful example of how words and music can compliment one another.
Which isn’t to say there aren’t songs here. There certainly are. Maybe even an earworm or two you find yourself humming at work. But think more “Unravel” than “I Miss You.”
As always, you know where to find it if you want to check it out. Curious to hear your own thoughts in the comments if you do end up doing so.
Comments
I’ve heard most of the record, via individual songs. I’m not sure if that alters the effect at all. But every song pretty much sounded exactly like what she’s been doing for the past 10 years or so. Like you said, sparse passages, louder and noisier interludes, with her vocals and craziness over the top of it all. I still love it, but this didn’t seem like too much of a departure either way from pretty much anything since Selma Songs. I’d like it if she went back to throwing the occassional hook in there, but even without that, she does what she does and I’ll always like it.
Well, after the shaky and inconsistent Medulla and the awful retread that was Volta, I was honestly just really happy to hear something consistently good from her. If anything, its her best album since Vespertine, and I think that’s a great thing.
I agree with john about it being her best since Vespertine. In fact I might even say its a colder/darker Vespertine. I think that is the reason I haven’t gotten into it yet, it’s not cold yet. I’ll pick it up again in a few months.
It don’t get cold in Georgia.