Having not really listened to Bjork after 1997’s Homogenic (just fell out of love - it happens), I resisted the temptation to listen to Biophilia in the run up to this. I wanted the review to reflect the experience and not be a mere checklist. It’s not often I sit down with the sole purpose of listening to music - these days tunes are more of an accompaniment to writing, reading, driving, walking, cooking - and was looking forward to a concert film of one of the most innovative electronic artists (surely she surpasses Mr. D. James for innovation).
The good news is Bjork and her directors Nick Fenton and Peter Strickland, the latter behind Berberian Sound Studio, won’t disappoint the fans. She won’t garner any new ones, however.
Kicking things off with a BBC-esque documentary of the universe, complete with a David Attenborough narration, Biophilia Live drops us right into the mix: With no intro and no chat, Bjork waddles on in that suit and that hair like a Mad Scientist in her lab, trotting around the musicians, the giant swinging pendulums and the organ that plays by ‘itself’. Above the stage the hypnotic and (dare it be said) psychedelic projected scenes of nature move in sync with the music. Sometimes the visuals are superimposed, sometimes they interrupt. Sometimes the aquatic plants are dropped in favour of retro computer graphics.
Bjork’s Polyphonic-Spree-Meets-Rites-Of-Spring backing singers form a protective circle around the singer as the unpredictable songs - sometimes jagged, sometimes soft - bounce the listener around as the eyes try to marry the images with the sounds; Bjork’s voice can be just another instrument in the onslaught and sometimes it lights the way, the only warmth to be found in what can be occasionally a blitz of cold, arty beats and lights.
That said, it loses its power to wow even before the encores, and one ugly thought wouldn’t go away: You know those sci-fi TV shows where the characters go to a concert of weird music sung by a weirder pop star and the whole thing is to highlight how bent out of shape the future is? That’s Biophilia Live.
Still though - the tunes were never as good as this. Biophilia Live may just rekindle the old flame.
