The Biophilia live show at Harpa, Reykjavik is another cog in the complex wheel that makes up Björk’s eighth album, which is not simply a collection of nice songs, but a concept record about nature, a series of educational apps and a showcase for its specially created instruments. The performance is, however, where it all comes to fruition, with the extensive thinking behind it distilled into the joy of putting on a show.
Björk is the star attraction of the Iceland Airwaves annual music festival, and there’s a particular magic at seeing her not only perform in her home town, but her 20-strong girls’ choir, too, who add a dance element as well as backing vocals, stomping and singing in their glittering costumes with chaotic synchronicity.
In fact, there’s so much going on that it’s difficult to think of it as a traditional show at all; one of the new instruments is a giant, bone-rattling Tesla coil that descends from the ceiling and zaps out a melody, while other songs are introduced with a David Attenborough-narrated mini-science lecture. Such oddities may sound pretentious, but this is far from it — its exuberance makes it fun, rather than didactic, and in a music world saturated with 4/4 rock shows, it’s fascinating to see someone ignoring the status quo so gleefully. And, of course, the woman at the centre of the room, sporting an enormous red wig, holds it all together with immaculate stagecraft, bewitching the audience that surrounds her on every side.
She closes the show with a punky, thrashing ‘Declare Independence’. It feels fitting.
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