Biophilia - Bjork (2011)
Bjork does new thing. That’s always kind of the headline with her, isn’t it?
Biophilia was designed for release next to an interactive app that I can’t seem to find anywhere. I’m sure it’s wonderful, whatever it is. All I have in its place are a lovely and complicated album of quiet, urgent sounds and some great videos that I imagine are similar to the app.
I guess you can choose whether to hear it as an album in itself or as a soundtrack to something visual. It works either way.
The lyrics are shot through with natural and scientific wonder but always call back to human emotion in interesting ways.
Soft washes get punctuated by orchestral arrangments or sharper synths in places. You get the occasional crash of percussion that brings urgency to the track you had been just floating in a second ago.
I’d say it’s an impressive feat, but Bjork has set the bar high for herself so what else would you expect?
