Bjork's Strange Worlds & Strange Connections
by John Diliberto 9/6/2022
Bjork has just released her latest video to blow your mind. If you want to live in a land of magic, mushrooms, alien beings and mystical revelations, then plug yourself in to Bjork’s dream called “Atopos” the lead track from her album, Fossora.
It’s a musically startling track to begin with, powered by a clarinet sextet anchored by 4 bass clarinets. It instantly brought to mind some of Sun Ra’s darker, more wind-driven epics. Gated electronic percussion drives the piece with a tribal groove while a DJ adds some flourishes. This is a bare-boned sound Bjork has been working with since “Human Behavior” Over this exotic mix, Bjork intones her song of connection, with that distinctive angular sound and rolling “R”s.
And of course, it wouldn’t be a Bjork video without some out-of-this-world and out-of-her-mind costumes. She looks like a warrior princess from deep space in one and a bride of the Cookie Monster in another, although her green might clash with his blue at the wedding.
This is another song where Bjork steadfastly avoids pop convention with fractured melodies, stream of consciousness recitations and no hooks. But then, this isn’t hook music. This is immersion.