BJORK is back

By John Glynn

ONE of the more bizarre singers in all of popular music, Bjork Gudmundsdottir (known simply as Bjork) has spent most of her life creating crafty, tentative music that defies categorization. Some people have never recognized Bjork’s music before, or listened to it. On the other hand, some know that she comes from Iceland; seems rather eccentric; once attacked a member of the paparazzi in an airport; and did that song where she went ‘shhh’ a lot.
Björk, is an alternative rock-electronica singer-songwriter. Her unique musical style has achieved widespread acknowledgement and praise. She has been nominated for 13 Grammy Awards, one Academy Award and two Golden Globe Awards.
Bjork is now the world’s most renowned Icelandic musician, probably the country’s most exclusive citizen. She moved to London in 1993, this enabled her to work with producers in the British dance music scene. Bjork’s first solo album was released in the same year. The record was aptly named Debut, receiving rather varying reviews, getting ripped to shreds by Rolling Stone but praised by many others.
She has continued to release engrossing music since then; in August 2004 she composed and sang “Oceania” for the Opening Ceremony of the Olympic Games in Athens. She continued to probe pop’s limitations: electronica, jazz, choirs, Africana, classical orchestras, fashion, art and film were all ingredients in her ingenious recipe. Björk came home to Iceland after her 2007-2008 world tour; she has been rather quiet since then. Three years later, the singer has decided to unveil Biophilia – a highly ambitious album. It has been labeled as an important new release for the future of the entire record industry. Why? Biophilia is, by all accounts, the first album to be released as a collection of iPad and iPhone apps. It took three years to craft, a period that involved negotiations not just with Björk’s record company, but with National Geographic and Apple. William Blake once wrote, “Art is the Tree of Life. Science is the Tree of Death.” Biophilia ensures that both “life” and “death” are morphed together, this release is intended as “a semi-educational project for children using sound, texts and visuals”. Plate tectonics, genetics and human biorhythm are just some of the topics covered; the legendary David Attenborough recites throughout. Dr Nicola Dibben, a leading professor in music at Sheffield University, wrote the essays that complement each tune. Because of this innovation, fans can listen to songs, investigate their origins, become familiar with their significance and even remix some of them. Biophilia has been ear marked as a kind of multimedia event; the release is simply not just in album format: it’s accessible in a choice of five formats, including a Manual Edition presented in a 48-page cloth-bound hardback. (I’m not making this up, believe me.) The superb chiming of custom-built gameleste – a bronze version of the celesta, is one of the highlights on the album, and the pipe organs operated by computer programmes ensure that her tradition of sounding utterly unique remains very much intact. For every celestial theme (the solar system), there’s a musical result (chords, equilibrium). Weirdly, for an album so entrenched in new technologies and thoughts, it sounds delightfully tender and compellingly human. What matters most of all is the music itself; “Moon” opens with recurring cycles of resonant harp plucking; Bjork’s mesmeric voice smoothly floats over the soothing music to refreshing effect. This is a tune about starting fresh, about being “all birthed and happy”, experiencing “adrenaline pearls” and “the lukewarm hands of the gods”. Not much science involved there. The Icelandic superstar seems re-energized delivering one impressive performance after another. We plunge into the tumultuous depths of earth on “Mutual Core”, where Bjork sings of “tectonic plates” in her chest, taking a song about earthquakes, tremors and volcanoes and turning it into a love song: “this eruption undoes stagnation/you didn’t know I had it in me.” “Dark Matter” is fittingly mystifying; its organ droning monotonously like an off-key hymn, Bjork manages to deliver her most quavering vocal performance here. ‘Cosmonogy’ is the shining star around which the other tracks revolve; Björk’s voice is stirring, glowing and fading like distant bursts of light.
Whether the app album becomes the industry norm or whether it’s even a sensible idea for it to become an industry norm is up for discussion. It’s difficult to imagine the likes of, say, Muse or The Chili Peppers having a go. Bjork is an absolutely remarkable artist, for whom the terms ‘innovator’ and ‘necessary’ are not journalistic exaggeration but simple reality. She divides opinion, often defying logic, where Bjork goes from here is anyone’s guess.

I certainly don’t know……………………