Review Summary: An album of stunning beauty and breathtaking soundscapes that completely topples anything that came before.
During the mid 90’s, Bjork was on top of the world.
Debut was a critical and commercial success and the follow up
Post even more so. However in 1996 the infamous Bjork stalker took his life on tape and made an attempt on Björk’s. Understandably shaken, she retreated to Spain and began working on new material. These events had caused her music to take a different direction, becoming more stripped back and lyrically darker.
Homogenic is the result of this.
Despite this shift in direction, the album still retains certain qualities from her previous albums, meaning
Homogenic isn't a difficult album to enjoy. Björk still utilises her vocal range to its full extent, giving the album an epic and ethereal quality. One huge difference between
Homogenic and her previous studio efforts is the orchestral elements contained within the songs.
Joga and
Bachelorette both feature sweeping violins that make the songs sound extremely dense and unique, especially when they are mixed with the more familiar elements, such as synths and drum beats. The aforementioned
Joga is one of the best tracks from the album, and arguably one of the greatest of Björk’s career. It is one of her most musically layered pieces, featuring an elegant violin and a synth that fades in and out throughout. But the real star of the show is Björk’s vocals, which compliment the instrumentals perfectly, making for a jaw dropping experience that will get under your skin and stay there. Her vocals don’t hold the album together as such; they just work in perfect harmony with the instrumental portion of Homogenic to create an experience that is quite unlike any other. The theme of introversion and reclusiveness runs throughout thanks to the stripped down production. You get the impression that she is bearing her soul and confronting all of the negativity in her life. Whereas
Post showed Björk becoming accustomed to city life,
Homogenic shows her scrapping that and leaving the city in favour of a distant land where she has time to reflect.
Album closer
All Is Full Of Love is one of the most bare and simplistic tracks on the album. It allows Björk to show her vocals off behind nothing but a minimalist, drawn out synth and background vocals towards the end of the song. Lyrically, it is also one of the most emotional and raw songs from
Homogenic, and the main theme is that you can find love in anything and anyone, just need to look in the right places. Björk delivers this important and inspiring message to the listener perfectly, with lines such as
“You’ll be given love, you’ll be taken care of, you’ll be given love, you have to trust it”. When she isn’t presenting a message of love, she is almost ranting about previous lovers that aren’t committed enough, such as on
5 Years. The lyrics are delivered with a stabbing snide and anger that we haven’t really seen before from Björk, and this could be a direct result of how she was feeling at the time. Lyrics like
“You think you’re denying me of something, well I’ve got plenty, you’re the one who’s missing out” and
“But you won’t notice, ‘till after five years, if you live that long” are delivered with a genuinely unexpected animosity.
One track that breaks away from the orchestral elements and love-based is
Alarm Call. A constant drum beat features throughout that wouldn't be out of place on a Michael Jackson album, and it makes it much more upbeat than any of the previous songs. The lyrics deal more with having a great lust for life, and wanting to live it to the full. You would think such a radical departure from the main themes of the album would make it feel out of place but surprisingly, it doesn’t. If anything it just feels refreshing and fun, almost like something you would have found on
Debut.
If you enjoyed her previous works, and if you go into this album with an open mind, you will almost certainly enjoy it. The context surrounding it helps to explain the huge departure from some of the more conventional elements featured in her other music. If you haven’t heard
Homogenic already, it’s essential that you give one of the most unique and influential albums of the 90’s a listen.
