Homogenic, Björk's third international solo album is released on September 23rd,
1997.
As her first self-produced album, since the much more collaborative productions of Debut and Post, Homogenic
marks a dramatic turning point in Björk's 20 year career.
This is Björk's most uncompromising album, featuring some of her most ambitious vocal performances. It has a
deeply cinematic quality, and an emotionally charged resonance that makes it one of her most personal musical
statements to date. It is also an album of complex structures and arrangements; luscious string arrangements
wrap around distorted, submerged electronic beats belying a serene and contemplative mood. It's a more
mature album than Post, a confident album that sees Björk developing a style of production that is almost as
distinctive and original as her vocal style.
Homogenic was recorded at a residential studio in El Madroñal, Southern Spain. Mark Bell from LFO, who first
worked with Björk in 1991, developed the beats and the album's sonic signature. The Icelandic String Octet's
sweeping orchestrations, scored by Björk with help from Eumir Deodato, were then laid over the top. Deodato
had previously worked on string arrangements for Post's, "HyperBallad," "You've Been Flirting Again" and
"Isobel." Björk's vocals were recorded live, along with the Octet's and Mark Bell's near-to-live instrumentation.
The album was engineered by Marcus Dravs and mixed by Mark "Spike" Stent who both also worked on Post.
An important musical influence in Björk's life since she was 14 has been Asmundur Jansson, an Icelandic radio
DJ and musicologist who compiled a comprehensive history of Icelandic music for Björk's research on
Homogenic.
One inspiration for the title Homogenic is that on Debut and Post the songs were influenced as much by the
personalities of Björk's co-producers, whereas the songs on Homogenic are all genetically similar because they
are unified by Björk's more directional production role.
Also by imposing a limited palette at the beginning stages of production, a code of experimentation was
enforced, leading to the development of songs along an inventive and homogenous musical line.
Through the innovative album sleeve designs of Paul White at Me Co, Björk has consistently assimilated herself
into the framework of her ideas. For the cover art of Homogenic, the celebrated photographer Nick Knight and
Britain's leading fashion designer Alexander McQueen collaborated to create an image of Björk. As usual with
Björk, it's as ambiguous as it is revealing but when challenged as to her present state of mind she replies, "That
character is definitely not me any more. I'm writing completely different songs now. I have moved on." Never one
to be pinned down, Björk remains as mysterious as she is open, as inventive as she is intuitive. If Homogenic is
an elliptical phase in the trajectory of Björk's quantum-leaping career, then the question is, where was she at
when it was made?
It has been a high profile and stressful year for Björk. A year in which her professional and personal lives were
consumed by the media: The Bangkok incident saw Björk fighting a camera crew who invaded the privacy of
her son Sindri. At the same time Björk's private relationships were being played out in the tabloids. Just before
she was due to begin recording Homogenic in September, 1996 an obsessive American fan committed
suicide after sending a potentially lethal letter bomb to her home address. Luckily it was intercepted by the
police. After four years of intense work, these were the triggers that finally exploded Björk's accelerated, high
pressure lifestyle. It resulted in a period she now fondly refers to as her "crash." "It brought me back to truth and
made me real. I realized that I had to cut the crap and it settled me again."
After the ethereal escapism of Debut and the exuberance of Post, the before and after of Björk establishing
herself in London, Homogenic is a return to basics; inspirationally infused by her first ten years of growing up in
Iceland
.
"I had been away from Iceland for over a year and when I returned for New Year I stayed on top of a mountain. I
went for a walk on my own and I saw the ice was thawing in the lava fields. All I could hear was the cackle of the
ice, echoing over hundreds of square miles. It was pitch black, the Northern Lights were swirling around and just
below them was a layer of thick cloud. I could see the lights from all the towns of my childhood mirrored in the
reflection of these clouds, with the lava fields cackling below. "It was really techno..."
It may seem obvious; the imagery of the Aurora Borealis and volcanoes, Icelandic clichés even, but within all
clichés there lies an element of the truth. Iceland is full of the dichotomy of nature and technology. As one of the
world's most recent geological outcrops and yet its fifth richest country (per capita head); a modernist consumer
society and a primordial landscape operate in dramatic tandem. It is precisely the orchestration of these
contradictions; the spiritual and the materialistic dichotomy within one's self, one's relationships and one's
environment, that forms the core lyrical and musical identity of Homogenic.
Björk Gudmundsdottir began her professional musical career at the age of 11, when she released her self-titled
debut album. The album was mostly covers of Iceland folk songs with one Björk original, an instrumental number
"Johannes Kjaval" a tribute to the well respected Icelandic painter. From the age of six until she was 14, Björk
attended a local music school, where she studied music and trained on the piano and flute.
Björk was born in Reykjavik on 21 November 1965 and brought up in a Bohemian, musical household. Her
stepfather was a guitarist in a band called Pops who played mainly Hendrix and Clapton influenced music.
Influenced by the late arrival of punk and new wave in the late Œ70s and early Œ80s, Björk rebelled against her
parents' hippy inspired lifestyle and formed a number of short-lived punk bands: Exodus at age 13, Tappi
Tikarrass at 14, and Kukl at 18, which lasted from 1984 until 1986 recording two albums for British anarchist
label Crass.
After three years of politically motivated, punk sincerity, Björk, Einer Örn and Siggi Baldurson split the band to
form The Sugarcubes and have some fun.
In 1987 The Sugarcubes, with three new members, Thor Eldon (Björk's ex-husband and the father of their child
Sindri), Magg Örnotfsdottir and Bragi Olafsson released their dazzling debut single "Birthday." It brought Björk's
voice to the attention of the British music press and secured the band a solid fanbase. They formed their own
collective in Iceland called The Bad Taste Family, through which they ran an independent label and produced art
events. In 1988 they released their debut album of surreal pop, Life's Too Good, to widespread critical acclaim.
Over the next four years they released three more albums. Here Today, Tomorrow, Next Week, which was not
as well received as their debut and sold less. Their third album Stick Around For Joy, released in 1991 was,
however, considered a return to form.
It was also around this time the Björk began to get seriously involved in dance music, with her first vocal
excursions on a dance record appearing courtesy of Graham Masseys' 808 State. Two songs that feature Björk
"Ooops" and "Qmart" appear on EX:EL.
The final Sugarcubes album It's It, was released in 1992, at a point when the band knew they were going to split.
It was a remix album of their previously recorded material, mainly curated by Björk's growing interest in the
British dance scene. Despite the Sugarcubes' success, Björk felt the need to express herself in her own songs,
so she finally left the band she had helped form, to pursue a solo career.
In the interim period before the release of Debut, while working in various jobs in Reykjavik, Björk began to
consolidate her relationship with the Trio Gudmundar Ingolfssonar recording Gling-Glo a one-off album of jazz
and popular standards.
Björk's first international solo album, Debut, released in 1993, saw her rocket into mainstream public
consciousness. This was her breakthrough album, selling over two and a half million copies worldwide. Björk
had come from left-of-center, with an album that mixed introspective and emotionally liberating songs with the
club savvy, polished production of Nellee Hooper. The singles "Human Behaviour," "Venus As A Boy," "Big
Time Sensuality" and "Violently Happy" from Debut, all went on to be Top 20 hits.
Björk now moved to London, getting closer to the musicians and artists she admired, exploring the evolving
dance music scene and working on a series of collaborations for a follow-up album.
After the vulnerability inherent in Debut, Post was a more playful album. A dislocated communique of
contrasting styles; techno doodles, relaxed eccentric beats, big band sounds and exotic, ethnic instrumentation.
Through a series of production duets, Björk collaborated with Nellee Hooper, Graham Massey, Tricky and
Howie B and also self-produced two of the songs. Since its release in June 1995, Post has sold over three
million copies worldwide.
Telegram, an album of tracks from Post, remixed by a cross section of Björk's favorite contemporary artists was
released in November 1996. The album confirmed Björk's status as a leading exponent of underground dance.
Since Dom T and Underworld's mixes of "Human Behaviour" in 1992, Björk has brought new talented artists to
wider attention through multi-format remixes of her singles. Telegram intuitively matches the character of the
song to the personalities of the remix artists. It incorporates not only the futuristic dance rhythms of LFO, Dillinja,
Outcast and Graham Massey, the hip hop flavor of Dobie and the ambient soundscapes of Mika Vainio, but
also the non technologically driven, experimental percussion arrangements of Evelyn Glennie and the sweeping
string arrangements of jazz impresario Eumir Deodato.
The "kooky chick" from "somewhere no one can pronounce properly," the "elfin, pixie-like chanteuse," who
"screeches along to fax machines" has outlasted these lazy metaphors and rent-a-line clichés to create an
identity and musical status that is unequivocal. Björk may seem unusual, but that is only to be expected in an
artist whose output is so consistently inventive. Björk is a consummate professional who sees her musical
career as still in its developing stages. She is a magical performer who recently enchanted 16,000 people at
The Tibetan Freedom concert, in Randall's Island, New York on June 6th, in a sneak preview of four new songs
from Homogenic.
With Mark Bell, raised at the rear of the stage surrounded by banks of keyboards and sequencers, the String
Octet in a semicircle to one side of the stage, conducted by Eumir Deodato, and Björk out in front, the festival
goers were given a taste of four new songs from Homogenic.
"All Neon Like," the love song of the album, opened the set, and Björk reached out to her audience, empathizing
and singing, "Don't get angry with yourself - I'll heal you..." "Joga" followed, with its cinematic, dramatic feel.
Submerged, distorted beats underpinned the resounding line, "State of emergency, it's where I want to be."
"Hunter" began with a soft military beat, and built with an enthralling string serenade to Björk's confessional line,
"I thought I could organize freedom, how Scandinavian of me." "Isobel" and "Hyperballad" both from Post
slipped neatly in between these new songs. "Pluto" from Homogenic began with a dreamy vocal, which flew into
a wild orbit, over alien sci-fi synth sounds and a dirty techno beat. It's a song about the liberation of hedonism,
about life and death and starting over again. A perfect way to consummate this short and powerful live set.
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