Björk – Biophilia

October 10, 2011 • One Little Indian Records

So I've been a Björk fan for some time now, and I have even enjoyed Medúlla and Volta considerably even though people seem to think she's been going downhill lately. After listening critically to Biophilia, I am going to have to agree; it is unfortunately a pretty dull album that doesn't offer anything new or better than her older material.

I think probably one of the biggest issues with this album is that it seems like Björk has gotten a bit too comfortable with her sound, and the music is suffering because of it. Nothing here sounds too much different from Volta: it's very vocal-centric, with instrumentation simply supporting the vocals in the background. The music does pull out some really creative stuff here and there, using some unique instruments (for a pop album), but most of the music is not very attention-grabbing. Instead of Homogenic's dark and dirty beats or Post's eccentric and theatrical numbers, Biophilia is mostly very quiet—and very safe. A lot of the time the music feels like it is going nowhere and many songs just end out of the blue, which feels awkward. There is the occasional awesome exception, though, like the neat drum and bass-ish sections in "Crystalline", "Sacrifice", and "Mutual Core". They aren't very Björk-sounding and kind of come out of nowhere, but they are refreshing to hear and work pretty well in context (not to mention they are about the only times the beats get really interesting).

I feel like I should discuss the vocals some since it is a pop album but honestly like I said if you've heard Volta you've heard this as well. They are very typical for her style and while they certainly aren't bad, they aren't very interesting either, especially for someone like me who listens to music for the music, where vocals support the music and not vice versa. So obviously it will probably appeal to some more than others, but it doesn't do anything for me.

I had some pretty high hopes for this album and I liked the album on the first couple listens, but now I don't, and I think that made the disappointment even worse. Fortunately we still have a handful of very strong earlier albums from her to listen to, even if we aren't going to get that quality of material out of her anymore.

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