Björk

                                                          Biophilia 

                                                           7.5/10

                                                      Recommended 

Björk’s career has spanned across decades; from the very early days of an 11-year-old Icelandic girl trying to make it as a pop-folk-whatever-super star to the still early days of The Sugarcubes. Then going solo again and releasing seven studio albums (as well as a number of remix and live albums, soundtracks, boxsets and EPs) throughout the 90s, early 2000s and today: with her latest concept album, Biophilia. Her discography has been challenging, shocking, beautiful, intense, fun, dramatic and about 10,000 other adjectives. Each record the Icelandic songstress created brought something different and new to the alternative scene, always touching millions of listeners; tugging on heartstrings and moving feet on the dance floor. From electronic to experimental to trip hop to industrial to a capella and much more, Björk is not afraid to tryout new soundscapes and explore genres. Her last record Volta, which was released about four years ago, showed Björk’s lighter side by working with hiphop mastermind/producer Timbaland, however the result was an embarrassing collection and transparent as both artists were pretty much trying to gain cred from each other. So, here were are with Biophilia: Björk in 2011. A time where we are ruled by Technology and Marketing, when it’s so easy for an unestablished musician to simply jump on a social media website, create a page and promote the fuck out of themselves. But what about artists who have already made a name for themselves? How can they capitalize on the Age of MeTube? Well, Björk has absolutely figured out how and tapped that well dry. Oh yeah, and the album is not too bad either.

Perhaps I’m being fresh, but it irks me to no end to see Björk turn her latest LP into a gimmick-cash-machine. I wouldn’t even bother bringing this up in a review since it has almost nothing to do with the actual 10 tracks on the record, but I feel that the Experience and the way you purchase Biophilia has become more important than the music. Labeled as the world’s first “app album” (eye roll), you will be able to buy iPad apps via iTunes that accompany each track on the album. Great. That’s cool I guess. I can totally see the other side of the coin here: Björk wants to harness the power technology to further propel the message of her record and it goes hand-in-hand with the new instruments her and her team created specifically for Biophilia. But at the same time I wonder how much Apple is kicking over to her for this entire project. In addition to the whole app thing, you can also plunk down 800 big ones for the “Ultimate Edition” of Biophilia, which comes with all sorts of doodads and weird things, pictures, photographs and I think the album is somewhere in there too. Although that seems super nifty, I don’t think too many people are going to spend that kind of money, unless you’re Richard López. But I digress (sort of), this really should have nothing to do with the music, but the crazy marketing schemes desperately seep into the album’s flaws. It takes away its confidence and creates a poorly constructed crutch for the record; at Biophilia’s weakest moments I can’t help but feel that it is hiding behind the hype and everything else I’ve mentioned. I can picture people actually ignoring the music for these Experiences and kind of making amends with themselves, like “Oh man ‘Sacrifice’ may suck but it’s okay because this app is so rad!” A cheap trick.

Although “Sacrifice” may not be Biophilia’s proudest moment, the album actually does have quality to it and all the bells and whistles are definitely not needed - the LP would have spoken volumes had it stood on its own. The first track and single “Moon” opens up with what sounds like a harp (but who the hells knows what it really is) that is being plucked to lovely scale until Björk chimes in with that unmistakeable weird-ass voice. “Moon” also let’s you know in what you’re in for, for the rest of the LP. That “plucking” will appear on most of the tracks (by a number of different instruments) and at times it is really successful but it can also come off as a child dicking around with some instruments, like on “Sacrifice” and be completely annoying. 

Promo single, “Virus” is another highlight - it is an intimate track that delves into the romantic lives of some of the tiniest living things on the planet. Björk sings about mushrooms transmutating on skin and over bells and layered vocals (another trick the singer repats way too much). The song brings light to the incredible and unfathomable things that happen in and around us every second of the day and romanticizes it on a molecular level. The industrial-dance number “Mutual Core,” is a stunning song and Biophilia’s golden moment. The epic sounds boom under Björk vocal arrangements: ”As fast as your fingernail grows/ The Atlantic Bridge drifts/ To counteract distance/ You know I gave it all,” she chants. Around the two minute mark, the song freaks out and builds with dangerous speed incorporating intense rave-drums and Björk singing faster and faster until things settle down and then build right back up.

Almost every song has one brilliant moment or another; “Thunderbolt” sounds like a church hymn with its dark organs and the Icelandic singer chanting “Craving miracles,” throughout the track. It is also one of Björk’s best vocal performances on the LP but the negative to “Thunderbolt” is a weird farting noise that pops up every now and then and unnecessarily finishes off the track. “Crystalline” has that plucking/childish piano-tap-tapping, which sounds like something you’d tell a 5-year-old they did a great job for creating but in reality is the musical equivalent of gibberish. Björk does her same tired vocal-cries during the rest of the song but the industrial pounding ending is pretty cool and spices things up a bit. “Hollow” is creepy (in the best way) but it is far too long and boring to keep things interesting. 

The overarching sound of Biophilia is quite different from all of Björk’s previous works, and I don’t mean its theme of space, the human body and technology working as cohesive unit. At its core, Biophilia is the record that best encapsulates Björk’s Music of the past 20 years - it is the record that can define what she is all about, perhaps to a first time listener. However, on her other albums we see her verge off into new territories and dimensions of sound and genre but here, she is focused on a concept of creation and execution, resulting in similar music we have heard before. Thus Biophilia is a double edged sward because the singer ends up repeating herself, turning the record into a sampling platter of her past. 

Despite all the hoopla surrounding Biophilia it is a pretty solid record. It may not be anything knew in terms of sound but Björk does what she does the best. Even though I’m fed up with her shtick of singing the same three notes for the past 20 years, cooing about “hexagons,” ”volcanos,” “bones,” etc., there are enough interesting things going on to keep me distracted from all of that. The singer is at her best when she holds off on her act of “being crazy of the sake of being crazy” - at this point in her career she doesn’t need to wear a swan dress to conjure up attention and she doesn’t have to create 500 billion aspects to her album so you “can enjoy the music on another level.” There is no doubt Biophilia is a grower and by investing time into this record, you will discover something new with each listen. Sonically speaking, it may not be a groundbreaking album but it is cohesive, raw and beautiful at its strongest moments. You don’t need the apps or the $800 “Ultimate Edition” to enjoy the recordat its max, all you need are the 10 tracks. 

Listen to “Mutual Core” below: