Björk’s pioneering album ‘Homogenic’ turns 25
The year 1997 delivered some of the decade’s greatest albums with the likes of Radiohead’s OK Computer, Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds’ The Boatman’s Call, Either/Or by Elliott Smith and countless others. Amongst the flurry of fantastic albums, Björk released her third album, Homogenic, in a project which refuses to be forgotten.
Following on from 1995’s Post, which boasted house-inspired beats and blended an eclectic mixture of jazz, pop, trip-hop, and techno, Homogenic is more cohesive, as the title suggests (its working title was Homogenous). Upon the release of the album, Björk described Homogenic as “more like one flavour. Me in one state of mind. One period of obsessions.”
The main focus at play is the dichotomy of classical instruments with electronic ones, representing the contrasts between the natural world and the involvement of humanity and technology. Björk once stated: “In Iceland, everything revolves around nature […] But at the other hand, Iceland is incredibly modern.[…] That contradiction is also on Homogenic. The electronic beats are the rhythm, the heartbeat. The violins create the old-fashioned atmosphere.”
Homogenic opens with the rippling beats of ‘Hunter’, which are contradicted by grandly majestic strings, vocal glitches and reverberation, and haunting backing vocals that breathe humanity across the electronic beats pierce like icicles. The track acts as the perfect introduction to an album that mixes warmth with coldness, both sonically and thematically. ‘Hunter’ makes way for ‘Jóga’, where Björk’s vocal performance is as breathtaking as the strings, written by the musician herself. She desires both pleasure and pain, singing: “This state of emergency/ How beautiful to be/ State of emergency/ Is where I want to be.”
As the album continues, Björk traverses sex and desire, painful, failed love, the pressures of being an artist, and the experiences of an individual homesick for their native country and natural surroundings. Much of this acts as a precursor for the vulnerability of Björk’s following album, Vespertine, despite its blossoming under intimacy and domesticity rather than alienation.
Lyrically, Björk often finds a way to say what needs to be said with potent simplicity. ‘Unravel’ explores how Björk’s heart has come undone whilst her lover is away, only for the devil to hold it hostage. Björk doesn’t overcomplicate her words; instead, she uses simple yet powerful metaphors and double entendres whilst letting her voice give effect. A minimal soundscape of fluttering and fleeting electronic noises gives way to Björk’s voice, which whirls and cuts across itself, overlaying itself with different inflexions and tones.
‘5 Years’ also sees Björk repeat simplistic lines to great effect, such as “You can’t handle love” and “I dare you”, as crunching beats roll on behind her. The powerful and distinctive delivery of her lines makes every song an arresting listen that proves that the combination of Björk’s unique voice with a simultaneous mixture of electronica and strings is an unlikely match made in musical heaven.
Whilst ‘Bachelorette’ glistens with ballerina-like delicacy on top, pulsating with dark, brooding tones underneath, ‘All is Full of Love’ ends the album on another plane, somewhere celestial and otherworldly, carried by a minimal, glowing, ambient sound that allows Björk’s voice to introduce a moment of optimism. She once explained that the song evoked the feeling of “completely melting and loving everything and feeling like everything loved you, after a long time of not having that.”
‘All is Full of Love’ comes after ‘Pluto’, a defiant and demanding track that pounds with bass and harsh beats that beg for dominance over Björk’s voice, which weaves through melodic rhythms and aggressive yowls. To transition from a song inspired by Icelandic mythology, destruction, and death, to a moment of love and hope is a true demonstration of Björk’s assured power as a musician.
Homogenic remains one of the greatest albums of the past 25 years and undoubtedly one of Björk’s best. What’s so magnificent is how modern Homogenic sounds a quarter of a century later, spreading its influence across such a vast array of artists, ranging from Radiohead to Kanye West to FKA Twigs.
