“On the brink of a revolution”

“We're on the brink of a revolution that will reunite humans with nature through new technological innovations.” The soothing voice of Sir David Attenborough gives a warm welcome as the enchanting images from Björk's concert film, Björk: Biophilia Live, flashes before our eyes. The film, directed by Nick Fenton and Peter Strickland, concludes Björk's multimedia project Biophilia, and marks the ending of her concert tour where she introduced her eighth full-length studio album, Biophilia, to her audience. The film was filmed at Alexandra Palace in London on September 3, 2013, and premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival on April 26, 2014.

“I didn't want it to be some artsy fartsy film”

“Instead of a few big concerts, which would've made our lives so much easier, I decided to throw a number of small ones. The stage was always in the center of the venue so the audience would feel like as if they were a part of the performance,” said Björk in an interview with Morgunblaðið the other day. This setup in particular adds a certain depth to the film and it's cinematographer, Brett Turnbull, does an exceptional job monitoring the stage from all angles. The audience gets it's share of attention as well and faces, lit up with the occasional flash of lightning from the stage, give the film an eerie feeling.

“I didn't want it to be some artsy fartsy film, but the exact opposite. The film was supposed to be unpretentious and pretty straightforward, almost as if a soccer game was being filmed. I was sure that was the best way to deliver the atmosphere in the concert hall.”

Not a “lets-all-move-into-caves” approach

The graphic images, joined with Björk's unique sound and innovative instruments, are hypnotizing and the colorful and diverse scenes of nature, merged together with her stage performance, result in a surreal, yet so natural, feeling. The whole concert is displayed in the film and Graduale Nobili, the choir that toured with Björk, supports the lead singer splendidly. Manu Delago also proves once again in the film what a refined percussionist he is. According to Björk she generally doesn't feel comfortable interfering with directors when being documented. She was nonetheless able to stay calm during the process this time as she trusted Strickland and therefore gave him the creative freedom he needed. She mentions her relief when she realized Strickland wasn't going to approach the project with an obsolete hippie point of view, as often happens when nature is the focus point.

“This is not one of those flower, acoustic guitar, LSD, lets-all-move-into-caves approaches that were so important around 1970. Don't get me wrong though, I respect that but that's the hippies. My generation, and people younger than me, experience the connection with nature in a very different way. Technology plays a vital role in the way we see things.”

The dirty drum loop

As mentioned before, the introduction by Attenborough is sensational. It would have been fun to see the directors finish what they started and embrace the holy trinity; the introduction, the middle and the conclusion. Attenborough's voice could have marked these sections clearly but as Björk said, the film was supposed to be “pretty straightforward, almost as if a soccer game was being filmed.” One of the high points of the film is when the song “Crystalline” is performed. The last minute of the song is probably one of the dirtiest garage-jungle-DnB parts ever to be recorded, where the Amen break, one of the most important drum loops in the history of music, gets to shine. The directors and the cinematographer also do a great job creating a pictorial scene in accordance with the soundscape.

The film is pretty political. Besides from the nature conservation, Björk also speaks of freedom, especially through her song “Declare Independence”, and how autonomous countries such as the Faroe Islands and Greenland should start their own currency. It's an interesting thought although it's left unsaid if it's economically a good idea or even possible. The film as a whole is nevertheless a well-constructed, vividly detailed piece that merges sound, nature and technology in a memorable way.