Björk gave the world premiere of her Biophilia live show last night, launching the Manchester International Festival. The New York Times says: "The new songs juxtapose hovering textures of choir and organ with sparse pointillism and sudden eruptions of breakbeat drumming, all set against Björk’s idiosyncratic melodies." The Guardian gives the concert four stars: "Bjork's voice still sounded gloriously childlike and otherworldly, a voice from what at times literally felt like a parallel dimension." The Times of London gives four stars as well: "For all the gadgetry and theatricality of this show, the elemental voice at its core was still the most remarkable instrument." The Manchester Evening News calls it "extraordinary."
Björk gave the world premiere of her Biophilia live show last night at Campfield Market Hall in Manchester, England, launching the third Manchester International Festival. Björk will be in residence at the festival for a three-week run that includes six intimate performances of new songs from her forthcoming One Little Indian / Nonesuch Records album at Campfield Market Hall—her first UK dates in over three years.
The evening's extravaganza featured performances of all of the forthcoming Biophilia album tracks (including its lead single, "Crystalline," available now on iTunes), introductory narration from David Attenborough, a 24-piece Icelandic female choir, visuals from the album apps, and a phalanx of custom-made instruments, including four 10-foot pendulum-harps, a unique 10-foot pin barrel harp called the Sharpsichord, a midi-controlled pipe organ and celeste (re-fitted with bronze gamelan bars), and twin musical Tesla coils.
New York Times music critic Jon Pareles reports: "The new songs juxtapose hovering textures of choir and organ with sparse pointillism and sudden eruptions of breakbeat drumming, all set against Björk’s idiosyncratic melodies: pithy or sustained, pausing unexpectedly and then snaking upward and opening out to a banshee wail." Read his concert review and learn more about the forthcoming Biophilia apps and album at nytimes.com.
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The Guardian gives last night's "visual pop spectacular" four stars. "Björk Guðmundsdóttir's audiences are accustomed to the unexpected," writes reviewer Dave Simpson, and that's certainly what they got. "Two decades on from the Sugarcubes, at 45 Bjork's voice still sounded gloriously childlike and otherworldly, a voice from what at times literally felt like a parallel dimension," says Simpson. "At its strangest ... the show felt like a crystallisation of the bizarre natural world we all inhabit." Read the complete concert review at guardian.co.uk.
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The Times of London gives the concert four stars as well. "Björk has always been an early adopter, and inspired adapter, of new musical technology. But Biophilia is her most technically ambitious multimedia project yet," writes Times reviewer Stephen Dalton. Even so, he concludes: "For all the gadgetry and theatricality of this show, the elemental voice at its core was still the most remarkable instrument. A torrent of fire and ice, an explosively powerful geyser, Björk remains Iceland's flesh-and-blood rival to the Eyjafjallajökull volcano." Read the review in today's Times.
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"Whether you’re Damon Albarn, Johnny Vegas or Victoria Wood, you must be feeling a little nervous opening your new commission for Manchester International Festival in the shadow of an extraordinary concert by Björk," raves Manchester Evening News reviewer Sarah Walters. "In a set woven with delicately reworked favourites, including 'Hidden Place,' 'Isobel' and 'All Is Full Of Love,' it’s actually the new songs that sound most captivating and, in the case of 'Cosmogeny,' most stirring." Read the review at menmedia.co.uk.
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For the BBC News coverage of the concert, read the report by Ian Youngs at bbc.co.uk, and read the NME coverage at nme.com. To learn more about the Biophilia project, read the article in the Nonesuch Journal from earlier this week.
Following her Manchester International Festival residency, Björk will return to the UK to headline the Bestival on the Isle of Wight in September.
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