Biophilia

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Lancemc

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A new album/application/multimedia suite by Bjork

bjork19jul2011.jpg


So, I've listened about one and a half time in full to the album's leak, which is supposedly the non-beefed-up iPad app version of the album. Hardly enough to fully digest the work, but I do have a few first impressions to this, probably my most anticipated new album since her last, underwhelming to many yet pretty satisfyingly substantial to me at least, album Volta in 2007 (right? anyway, seems like forever ago).

At first blush, it seems to be a far more thematically and aesthetically unified, even focused work than her last album, with familiar dynamic shifts and album pacing that reminds me of Homogenic above all other Bjork touchstones. Sonically, this also appears to me her most minimalist work to date, something along the lines of Vespertine in terms of layering, which a touch of Medulla's choir-like multi-channel vocal approach. I'm hesitant to call the album minimalist just yet, which might betray some of the most faceted and thrilling electronic arrangements to be found among the folds of certain tracks. Overall there's a certain restraint and calmness to her work here that communicates a degree of spiritual acuity.

Biophilia sounds, for right now, like a refinement of Bjork's many artistic preoccupations over her career, etched, distilled and hardened to the tip of a diamond. I'm almost afraid to hear the changes she's made to the CD version in the ensuing delay. I'd hate for any additions to this particular soundscape to take away from its minimal beauty.
 
I've had the iPad app since the day it was launched, and have yet to take a look at it. Probably should get around to that. When's the official release again?
 
Also, depending on how the physical release sounds, I'll either just download a FLAC of that and buy all the apps, or just keep the leaked copy and buy the CD or Vinyl.
 
Too bad the CD or album download don't come with some sort of code to unlock the entire app, that would be nice.
 
Tracks 4-6 are garbage, everything else is very good. I for one feel that the album feels slight and in need of a few overdubs, so alterations won't harm the album for me as long as she doesn't transform them into an army of Army of Me. The production is remarkable and as much as I love Homogenic, I like her voice and overall presence best when presented with a feather touch, so this works for me, even though I don't consider it on the same level as Vespertine just yet.

Moon and Virus are my favorites from the outset.
 
Dark Matter is the only track I find the least bit underwhelming currently. We'll see how that changes or not.
 
Sorta shocked how little hype there is for this. Pitchfork didn't even post a review on, or before, release day. Popmatters had a pretty positive review up yesterday, though. My copy should be sitting on my porch right now. Wish physical copies came with download codes for the app. Make it happen, Bjork.
 
Aye. I think that's one miscalculation for the whole multi-media suite this is intended to be. Purchasing the album should open up all the various connected formats outside of the live installations/performances and such obviously.
 
Sorta shocked how little hype there is for this. Pitchfork didn't even post a review on, or before, release day. Popmatters had a pretty positive review up yesterday, though.

Me too. AV Club, which is probably my favorite source of reviews, was scathing towards it, seemingly on account of the idea that the "multimedia" concept had distracted significantly from the music. Having not heard the album yet, I cannot say that I have an opinion on that matter, but I am very much looking forward to hearing this in full.
 
Looks like the CD actually comes with 3 extra tracks, and is billed as a "deluxe edition". iTunes apparently has those same 3 extra tracks though. Maybe that's her way of "making up" for the fact that buying the album doesn't give you the app.
 
It was just the $12 US version in the first link, I actually got it from Amazon. I didn't know I was receiving a "deluxe edition", so maybe all the CDs are that, or at least the initial run.
 
This album is pretty crazy on first listen. I prefer this sort of crazy to Volta's sort though, so I'm enjoying it so far.
 
Virus has some of her best lyrics ever. Really wells up with emotion the way Hyperballad does, and I'm glad to hear so many critics/fans are connecting with it.

Metacritic score is 79 at the moment, btw. Solid.
 
Virus was prob. my favorite song on first listen. I like that the "prettiest" song on the album is called "Virus".

Album seemed cool, gonna take a number of listens to sink in though.
 
I like that the "prettiest" song on the album is called "Virus".

I noticed this as well. The album retains a very consistent tempo throughout, almost like the universe expanding or some other cosmic process. That even-keeled approach makes it all the more amazing when Mutual Core really kicks in, though. And Solstice is just stunning, almost in the same league as Unravel in terms of understated beauty.
 
Pitchfork's Facebook update / link about the album review is pretty much 95% people saying the review sucks. :wink:
 
They haven't given her a lot of love lately, specifically for Volta, and this is a rather slight/unassuming "comeback," so I'm not surprised by the score. The review was harsh, although I agree that the midsection of the album is poor.

It really seemed as if they resented the materials that surrounded the record, and used that as a support for their criticisms, which isn't at all fair of them.
 
I think that the general idea at Pitchfork is that no artist with a tenure over ten or fifteen years is capable of making a strong album.
 
Unless it's a cult artist that hasn't made an album for 10 or 15 years. :wink:
 
iron yuppie said:
I think that the general idea at Pitchfork is that no artist with a tenure over ten or fifteen years is capable of making a strong album.

Except Tom Waits, Nick Cave, Leonard Cohen...maybe they're just sexist.
 
There are some glowing reviews out there as well. Tiny Mix Tapes wrote a laudatory, if characteristically grandiloquent, appraisal a few days ago.
 
Except Tom Waits, Nick Cave, Leonard Cohen...maybe they're just sexist.

Or Scott Walker! No one was prepared for The Drift.

I really enjoyed that album, even though my girlfriend insisted that I listen to it on headphones after the first track.
 
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