“Crystalline,” the first single off Biophilia, features the Gameleste, an instrument that Björk created that combines the Indonesian gamelan and the celesta. In a nutshell, a keyboard is linked up to small mallets that strike chromatically tuned bronze bars inside the inside the instrument’s body. A steady chord progression on the Gameleste plays loops over the entire song. Electronic beats create a rhythm that can get heads bobbing, but doesn’t disrupt the song’s sparseness. Björk croons over the music in the unique style she’s known for. Lyrics like “Underneath our feet/Crystals grow like plants/I’m blinded by the lights/In the core of the earth,” and “Sonic branches/Murmuring drone/Crystallizing galaxies/Spread out like my fingers,” match the minimalist feel of the music.
All hell breaks loose about four minutes into the five-minute song. Drumbeats come blasting out of the ether over the Gameleste and vocals. Tom and snare hits repeat like a skipping record. Its spastic drum and bass style wouldn’t feel out of place at a Venetian Snares show. And just as quick as the barrage of beats started, the bombardment ends and the song concludes with the clinking of the Gameleste.
“Cosmogony” continues the sparseness that’s found on “Crystalline.” It’s reminiscent of “Dull Flame Of Desire” from 2007’s Volta. The track starts off with a vocal harmony that sounds like it’s ascending to the heavens. Horns begin to play a melody, which Björk sings along to. She sings about different tales of how our world was created. The stories range from “They say back then our universe was a cold black egg/Until the god inside burst out and from its shattered shell/He made what became the world we know,” to “And they say back then our universe was an endless land/Until our ancestors woke up and before they went back to sleep/They carved it all into the world we know.”
Cymbals and gongs crash over the symphony of horns as the song progresses. A low beat can be heard amidst all the brass. The vocal harmony from the beginning returns, and slowly drifts down from the sky back to the earth.
These two tracks mark a triumphant return to the music world for the Icelandic artists. We can expect great things from Björk when Biophilia comes out at the end of September.
