hyper.ballad

amazing.  read pitchfork review below and then have a listen.  so, so dope. 

Much of the discussion of Björk’s forthcoming Biophilia is likely to focus in on its forward-thinking release pattern: Each track will be issued as an app tailored for the iPad. Such tinkering won’t be a surprise to longstanding Björk watchers, but “Crystalline”, the first track to be released from this new project, may raise a few eyebrows. Björk spends the predominant part of the song emoting over the kind of jagged-edge electronics she produced during the Homogenic era almost 15 years ago. It’s not often that she harks back to the past in this way, but it initially feels like a comforting spot to return to in order to ease her audience into Biophilia.

The song is built around a loop of flickering percussion, which sounds like someone lightly tapped on a glass with a spoon then digitally processed the results to turn up the brightness. An undertow of halting beats gathers as the song progresses, while the spare backing allows Björk’s vocals to rocket to the moon and back via a lyrical conceit that intertwines the process of crystal formation and blooming human relationships. That comfort-zone emoting on “Crystalline” works brilliantly at conjuring up a false sense of security, as its final act masterfully deconstructs everything that went before it by introducing the kind of faltering drum and bass rhythms that Squarepusher and Venetian Snares commonly practice. It makes this a wonderfully confounding teaser for Biophilia, leaving the possible worlds it explores wide open to suggestion.