On massive screens behind Bjork and her fellow musicians, flora and fauna burst into kaleidoscopic life in Technicolour. Birdsong and insects provide looped natural percussion, reflecting the singular artist’s twin obsessions: the natural world and technology in symbiosis. Bjork herself, in trademark masks and sculptural costumes, is almost a secondary character amid the visual overwhelm. Directed by Isold Uggadottir, it’s a fever dream, writ large.
Alas, if only the music was as impressive as the visuals. Bjork’s voice is, as ever, faultless, her wild soprano scaling heights, alarming or calming. But the material is often too jarring, marred by Arca’s production. As someone who likes Arca solo material, I almost forgot how insufferable Utopia was in its entirety, all flutes and nebulous wisps of piled -on overlapped melodies. For me, this was Bjork at her at once most confessional and academic, more concerned with sonic textures and emotional resonance than good songwriting: process, as opposed to result. And said album, as well as the underwhelming Vulnicura , are represented here.
‘Sue Me’ and ‘Family’ are the worst offenders, too vituperative and personal to feel comfortable. Even Lily Allen would blanche, it seems like an overshare too far. Elsewhere, conversely, the utopian ideal she espouses is like being forcefed a Pollyanna vision of impossible twee absolutism.
Of course Bjork has always leaned in to experimentation, and that’s to be respected (How else can music’s infinite elasticity be pinged?) but when ‘Isobel’ is a welcome reprieve from her self-indulgence, we have a problem. It’s not one of her best nineties era songs. The Hamrahild Choir and flautist ensemble Vibra feel shoehorned in. The orchestra, too, seem like an ill fit, resulting in too many musical genres struggling for supremacy. “Flutes ROCK!” declares Bjork in a rare moment of acknowledging the audience. No, no, they fucking don’t. It’s all too much: too many kooks spoil the Bjork. Here’s hoping her next album is a proper return to form.
Hit The North 