Björk – “Ovule”
In a few short weeks, we’ll get to hear Fossora, the new album from Icelandic hero Björk. Last week, Björk released “Atopos,” the first sing from the LP. Today, she’s followed that one with “Ovule,” a new song that seems to travel in a bunch of different directions at once. Björk produced and arranged “Ovule” herself, and the only other credited musicians are Bergur Thorrison on trombone and Soraya Nayyar on timpani. (Björk arranged the trombones and timpani, too.)
On some level, “Ovule” reminds me of “The Modern Things,” with the way it uses Björk’s poetic lyrics and exuberant delivery to lay out a whole surreal panorama. The horns gesture at jazz, while the drums sound like a reggaeton beat pattern that’s slowly falling apart. Over that track, Björk sings a sort of futuristic love song: “I have placed a glass egg, above us floating/ An oval ovule in a dark blood red void/ Carries our digital selves, embracing and kissing.”
Here’s how Björk describes the song on Instagram:
ovule for me is my definition of love
it is a meditation about us as lovers walking around this world
and i imagine 2 spheres or satellites following us around
one above us that represents ideal love
one below us representing the shadows of love
and we ourselves walk around in the third sphere of real love ,
where the everyday monday-morning meet-in-the-kitchen-love lives in
In the “Ovule” video, Björk wears some truly head-spinning fashions — including, in one moment, what appears to be a gigantic CGI Juggernaut helmet. Check it out below.
Fossora is out 9/30 on One Little Independent.