SPACE: The final
frontier. These are the voyages of Fucking Nostalgic. Our mission: To explore
strange new worlds, to seek out new life and new civilizations, to
boldly go where no person has gone before.
And to see Björk perform Biophilia live,
bitches.
With a stage in the round and not a bad spot in the house of Roseland, we waited for the goddess to descend. Björk’s 10-night residency here in the NYC has been nothing short of a crash landing on our home planet, this calculated yet organic melding of all things machine and art.
In anticipation, our ears were
treated to instrumental versions of Björk material (Björkaterial?), glancing at
screens halo-ed around the stage, hypnotically flashing Biophilia-themed…
things. Organized with both The Creators Project and the New York Hall of
Science, the show’s artistic and technologically savvy aspects are evidenced
both in the visual as well as audio environment enveloping the
audience. There was a harp. There was a strange, remotely controlled pipe
organ. There were Tesla coils (!). There were stunning graphics from the Biophilia Apps
(insert bitter Apple comment here) that synched so perfectly with the entirety
of the performance, yet maintained a creative, natural feel. Oh, and did we
mention the 24-piece Icelandic female choir? Yeah, that was there too, all gold
and blue and glittery. Science is glam now, people, get with it.
This multimedia journey into the natural world
would not have been complete without Björk’s huge red ‘fro and her metallic
blue balloon animal dress (I almost wore mine, how embarrassing).
And even though this was my first, I can say without doubt that there is
nothing like a Björk show. If a unicorn leapt from the stage and was
carried off by a leprechaun over a rainbow, I don't think I would
have missed a beat. The sound, at times sparse and bare,
manages to fill a room so boldly and completely that it feels like some kind of
cosmic force is binding you to everything and everyone nearby. And you
like it. You like it a lot.
Celebrating artistic process, ideas and movement,
the album and its presentation are not just about the music, but about the
performance, about the experience for the viewer. With her unmistakable
voice carrying the show, Björk tore into “Thunderbolt”, “Moon”, and one of my
favorites, “Crystalline”. The syncopated beats and changing rhythms bounced off
the walls and into our brains like pinballs. The sometimes aimless and erratic
qualities of the record were made significant and directive on stage. There was
no meandering through this – these songs came out as statements to be made.
Mixed in to Biophilia were earlier songs, including “Hidden Place”
and “Mouth’s Cradle”, showcasing the range of message and intent in Björk’s
music. More emotional than ethereal, these did not sound out of place, but
served to highlight the human aspect of Biophilia's live, overall feel. The encore featured a
stirring rendition of Post’s “Possibly Maybe” and closed with Volta’s
politically fueled “Declare Independence”. This is the stuff that face melting
is made of.
There is something universal about Björk’s music,
something that makes it striking and visceral and almost breathtaking. I went
to that show not knowing what to expect, but it was everything I wanted it to
be.
Before the start, we were asked by a very lovely
sounding English chap not to take photos, so we didn't, 'cuz that's how we
roll. Instead, check out the setlist below and bask in the glory of this Icelandic Space Princess Extraordinaire.
