Photo by:
Björk’s new album, Biophilia, is just as bizarre and atmospheric as anyone might expect, taking an at times scientific approach to the album’s recording. At the same time, the album draws from contemporary pop influences, which makes it more accessible to the average listener.
Biophilia is also one of the first ever albums to be released simultaneously as an app suite on the iTunes App Store, with a unique interactive app coinciding with each song. All of this combines to create a multimedia experience that is as accessible as it is esoteric, as aggressive as it is atmospheric, and quite frankly, like nothing you’ve ever heard or seen before.
The first track, “Moon,” begins with a soft harp and sporadic bursts of percussion. The song is like a game of musical arithmetic: instruments are added and subtracted constantly while the track stays centered on Björk’s powerful vocals.
This is Björk’s first effort since 2010’s Mount Wittenburg Orca project with Dirty Projectors. The siren background vocals and afro-rhythm on “Crystalline” seem to come right out of the Projector’s playbook. Its distinctive chorus and conventional structure made it a good choice for first single, but its last minute and a half, which explodes into a drum-n-bass freak-out unlike anything Björk has recorded before, catches the listener completely off-guard (in a good way).
As the album goes on, she continues to draw from diverse influences and neither “Dark Matter” nor “Hollow” would be out of place in a film score.
More uniquely, Björk also draws from influences that fall more into the realm of science than music.
“Dark Matter” is grounded in what at first appears to be an unidentifiable hum, but is in fact a thick, unintelligible layering of spoken word, in reference to the many unexplained mysteries of the universe.
“Thunderbolt” features the noises of thunder and lightning, utilizing the Tesla coil as a musical instrument.
“Solstice” uses musical pendulums whose rhythms mirror the geosolar sequencing of the Earth.
These unique, nature-centered techniques allow Björk to actually feel more grounded, a problem the somewhat alien-sounding artist has struggled with in previous efforts.
That said, the lyrics on this record are often very cryptic, but when they are comprehensible they offer beautiful, nature-themed metaphors. This is most obvious on the track “Virus.” The song comes from the perspective of a virus attacking a human and towards the end Björk chants, “my sweet adversary.” Björk may present it in a strange way, but even the goddess of art-pop is not above writing a relationship song.
Closer “Solstice” brings the album back to the astronomical perspective at which it began, completing the circuit that will inevitably be created through multiple listens to this record.
Björk’s Biophilia is more than just an album; it’s a fully-fledged sensory event that toys with our most ethereal emotions but also remains grounded within our most natural and Earthly experiences. It is a beautiful, unique surprise for the casual listener but is also extremely rewarding for the dedicated listener.
Don’t worry if you don’t immediately understand it all. In many ways, the album’s greatest gifts are its mysteries.
