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A strange but effective mixture of hard techno beats and string octet performances is the 10 song backdrop for Bjork's unique voice. The album starts with 'Hunter', a searching, determined track. It moves through songs of loneliness, desire, and passion. Track 9, Pluto, is the album's intense climax. The sheer energy in this track is astonishing (and you simply cannot turn the volume up enough, in my opinion). Homogenic closes with the soft, peaceful 'All Is Full Of Love', a song so beautiful it brought tears to my eyes.

You don't have this album? What are you still reading this for? Go out and experience it for yourself - I promise you won't be disappointed.


All The Accidents That Happen Follow The Dot   April 14, 2001
 32 out of 32 found this review helpful

Bjork was angry, that was for sure. After a dismal break-up with Tricky and other unpleasant occurances in her life, Bjork's follow-up of the eclectic, trip-hop-like, post-techno "Post" was to be a minimal, dark album that few were perpared to drink down with a single listening. It's an album that's hard on the ears, on the soul, and will probably collect dust in your closet for about a year or so before you begin to realize its majesty in modern music.

For starters, "Homogenic" is the complete opposite of the Euro-friendly, house-filled "Debut," which found Bjork bringing fire on the dancefloor at four in the morning. Instead, we find her as the hunter, looking for the next kill, or as the screaming numbed soul excusing herself for being about to explode. Complete with wavy beats and minimalist industrial crunch fading in and out throughout the whole album, this is a difficult heart-renching listen that's filled with everything that is Bjork: beauty, love, despair, loneliness, and finally defeat with hope.

The minimalist beginning of "Hunter" sets the mode to the album, which is a stark, echoing jurney through emotion and time, while "Joga," being one of the album's stand-outs, is as vivid as the cold Icelandic landscape where she comes from.

Despite the hopeful yet ultimately longing "Bachelorette," the mood the album still doesn't change, with the tempo of the electronics and Bjork's singing still in sour modes. It changes briefly in the awakening "Alarm Call," which shows the mood change briefly into a barrage of Zen ("I'm no fucking Buddhist, but this is enlightenment").

It doesn't last for long, on the other hand, with the full frontal assault of "Pluto," a numbing song where Bjork finally releases every bit of anger she's been holding onto throughout the album and releases it onto the listener. Yet the album ends peacefully on "All is Full of Love," where still, despite all that's happened, there is still hope for love somewhere out there, even if it's not in her heart for the moment.

By all means, "Homogenic" is a difficult album to get into. It's assured that the first few listenings to it will leave you saying to yourself, "Why did I even get this?" But with time, let it grow on you. Bjork's like a tasty French wine: She gets better with age.


Prepare To Be Shocked By The True Genius Of Bjork   February 14, 2004
 17 out of 17 found this review helpful

Take a close look at the cover of Bjork's "Homogenic." Go on, do it. What you'll notice are outrageous alien-like hair buns, long silver finger nails, an elongated neck, slit-like eyes, tight skin, microscopic lips and an oversized kimono wrapped around the genius. It's almost scary in a wonderful way, representing a cold and distant Bjork at the time of the album's release. Bjork has created totally new genres of music that were unheard of until she hit the block big time back in 1993 with her debut album "Debut." This concept was taken further with 1995's "Post" as the acclaim and praise continued to overwhelm her. However, Bjork's shining creativity and musical genius cannot be seen better in any of her records more so than in Homogenic.

Released in 1997, Homogenic was Bjork's third studio album and saw the artist in a tumultuous state of mind. She was angry at certain people in her life, and this is reflected in the harsh and primal nature of this album. Homogenic is the kind of album that you will not like straight away, but need to give a few listens before you can truly appreciate it. The same can be said for probably most of Bjork's music, but you don't get as much satisfaction after persisting with them than you do in Homogenic.

"Hunter" opens the album in magnificent style. With supersonic beats sliding all over the arrangement and gentle sighing, it's clear from the first few seconds that this is a manic and eccentric song. The paranoid drums and aching violins work in excellent contrast with Bjork's soft vocals. She begins by singing, "If travel is searching, and home what's been found. I'm not stopping, I'm going hunting. I'm the hunter. I'll bring back the goods, but I don't know when." She sounds here like a wild animal, searching for food in the middle of the night. The lyrics here are so primal and out of control it's unreal. "Joga" manages to succeed in being one of Bjork's greatest ever songs. An old Russian violin opens the song in a depressing tone, before Bjork starts singing. The verses and choruses rise and fall to the actual sounds of Iceland's volcanoes, which Bjork recorded especially for this album. It's amazing - you get all this fresh and natural music on one song, instead of manufactured garbage. As the fourth minute approaches, Bjork starts wailing as her voice echoes before singing, "Emergency...Is where I want to be." Then she starts giggling, as if in awe of the masterpiece she's just created. Genius.

"Unravel" is one of the most heartbreaking songs of Bjork's career and a definite album highlight here. She sings a song of lost love, "While you are away my heart comes undone. Slowly unravels in a ball of yarn. The Devil collects it with a grin. Our love in a ball of yarn. He'll never return it. So when you come back we will have to make new love." Bjork's voice is so packed with emotion and this leads perfectly into the album's true masterpiece, "Bachelorette." This is easily the finest song that Bjork has ever had the pleasure to record. Beginning off with a simple violin, it spirals down and the song begins with a grand piano playing in the song. The majestic beats work so well with Bjork's euphoric voice and the strings that come in after two minutes are just complete genius overload. "All Neon Like" has a strong thumping beat like a heartbeat all the way through. The lyrics are amazing, and the way Bjork totally evolves human art into music can be seen here.

"5 Years" has an interesting beginning with a synthesizer, before beats that sound like stomping feet gradually come to the forefront. Bjork's voice is brilliantly careless and she seems a little angry and vengeful. "Immature" seems to be a little bit of relief from the last two tracks which are completely alien and strange. The song starts off with Bjork humming to her own tune, before she scolds herself for being so immature. She questions her actions and offers her most simplistic answer, "How extremely lazy of me!" "Alarm Call" is one of the more mainstream tracks on the album. It works well with the rest of the songs, however. The beat on this song is just pure joy as Bjork sings about how she wants to go on a mountain-top with a radio and good batteries and play a joyous tune. Then there's the harsh realism when she sings, "I'm no f**king Buddhist, but this is enlightenment!"

"Pluto" is the song that follows and is definitely the most challenging song Bjork has ever recorded. This song has so much energy that it could finish you off for good - the racing beat and grating rhythm is forced into Bjork's angry vocals as she sings, "Excuse me but I just have to explode. Explode this body off me." She then starts screaming at the top of her voice around the second minute, grunting, groaning, wailing, shrieking and crying her way through her torture and pain. It's unlike anything I've ever heard, and you know what? I like it. This works as a complete juxtaposition with the album's final track, "All Is Full Of Love." It finally starts after 30 seconds with some swirling strings. Bjork's voice goes from left to right on this song, and her lyrics are so emotional it will bring a tear to anyone's eyes.

OVERALL GRADE: 10/10

Homogenic is my favourite Bjork album because of the way she presents herself on this album. She just opens herself up and isn't afraid to experiment. There are only 10 songs on this album, but Bjork likes to keep things short and sweet and in this case it most definitely works. If you own Bjork's first two albums but not this one and are planning on buying it, be prepared for a shock! This is Bjork's most inaccessible album of her career. It's hard, frigid and primal on the outside, but if you can break the shell, on the inside you'll find your place at home with the warmth and emotion that Bjork conveys in every single song here.


Bjork at her most emotional and daring   July 9, 2000
 10 out of 11 found this review helpful

Bjork belongs to people like Peter Gabriel, Kate Bush, Happy Rhodes, Radiohead and David Byrne. Why?, because she mixes honest, dramatic lyrics with sonic experimentation that works.

With Homogenic, her most recent and original album, Bjork not only goes in experimentation where few people have gone but also she creates a sibling for such different-in-their- respective-concepts albums as Peter Gabriel's Us, Happy Rhodes' Many Worlds Are Born Tonight, Radiohead's OK Computer and P.J. Harvey's Is This Desire?, just mentioning a few of them.

Most of these songs are about love, loss and paranoia, though hope is noticeable in themes such as Alarm Call and All Neon Like. The combination of twisted beats and the soft sound of strings make this album interesting. In my opinion, this is her most daring project. It's much better than Debut, and is the record that the "alternative press" really should put among the greatest albums of the 90's.

Homogenic is certainly a dark album, but not to the point of being unlisteanable, if you have "educated ears". This is a really worthy record that shows how far Bjork's talent can go.


Sort of Like Caviar...   November 5, 2005
 10 out of 12 found this review helpful

Bjork is one of the most difficult of all contemporary musicians to criticize, because she always seems to be one step ahead of the criticism. She is so thoroughly unique that any negative opinion would almost certainly be subject to review, since it is hard to imagine a reviewer who would be capable of claiming that he or she understands the work well enough to bring it down a peg or two. Much of Bjork's work seems foreign simply because she is; it is rare for a woman from Iceland to conquer the world market. Her unusual style can certainly be attributed to her Scandinavian upbringing, and I believe (uh-oh, here I go) that this is most likely because she was fairly isolated from `standard' (i.e., American, indigenous, blues-based) music structures. In addition, though, there can be little doubt that Bjork is one of the most willful artists of this era.
Her songwriting is opaque and mysterious, but not unpleasant, kind of like night swimming. It is something that can be appreciated solely for the textures, for the aesthetic experience, even if you cannot make out exactly what it is that you are basking in. Bjork is intelligent enough to reach into unknown territory, but what she brings back is so personal and unusual that it is hard for most others to follow her. If you hang on, it should eventually pay off, but an open mind is essential to finding the key to her work. Homogenic is rich with string arrangements and kinetic percussion programming, both of which supply the musical backbone to her melodic flights of fancy. Occasionally, repetition stands in the way ("Joga" had my sons laughing at seemingly endless the chorus melody) but she is off on a path of her own, and I for one am willing to follow her.
It seems as though females are much more inclined to break down melodic barriers and search for a truly unique means of expression than most men are. Joni Mitchell, Kate Bush, Tori Amos, Sophie B. Hawkins and Jane Siberry are but a few who have taken melody into their own hands and attempted to transform it beyond typically recognizable boundaries. Since Joni Mitchell, Bjork has been the most successful at this game, putting an unpredictable spin on almost everything she touches. Make no mistake - these are Bjork's songs, and they aren't meant to be performed by anyone else (although it isn't impossible, just unlikely). Nobody else could do justice to work that is so personal. Rather than criticize what I cannot understand, I will just bask in it and let it wash over me.B+Tom Ryan