Michel and 'Isobel'
It’s blowing a Force 8 gale outside, horizontal rain and bleak dark clouds whizzing by. Huge waves crashing on the beach. This is England in the Spring.
I was flattered to read that eccentric French film director Michel Gondry is making a compilation DVD of his work and wants to include my video for ‘Close But No Cigar.’ I’ve liked a couple of his movies but most of all I adore some of his work with my heroine, Bjork. The finest of the seven clips he did with her has to be ‘Isobel’, below. It’s a kick to read the comments about it on YouTube. People just don’t get her, do they? That’s because she’s from a different species altogether.
That Phoenix space probe that’s digging today under the surface of Mars with a robot arm drill, it might just send us back pictures of Bjork’s frozen face beneath the ice, lying there in her swan dress.
I’d be surprised to discover bjork even came from the same galaxy as the rest of us. I saw her last year live with her all girl brass band and an amazing graphical table synth called a ‘reactable’. Declare Independence was a triumph! One of those reactable synths would look amazing beside your rig Thomas.
Best wishes from sunny Swanage!!
Andrew
Wow! Didn’t even know there was a video to this. Funny, it’s only a week or so since I stumbled across an old VHS video – “The Golden Age of Video” – would love an updated DVD version of these.
Don from Liverpool
ahhhhh, to be one of those people who gets Bjork . . . i buy her music (and listen quizzically, my ears cringing a bit), i read articles about the new instrument she invented (and understand that i’ll never play one as somehow it reeks of higher math), i applaud her wild choices in clothing (and marvel at the designer’s imaginations), her ever wooly videos (and ponder what the frak they mean). . . but i can’t make the jump . . . is there a special invocation? a secret password??? if so, please share, oh please, please share, because she’s marvelous, isn’t she?
That first link has been schooted off to the nowheresphere by the baleful ones.
There are other copies on the tube that is you, though, just search for Isobel and Bjork. I’d put a link, but that might fall foul of the spam-eaters.
Higgins
That swan dress is one of the things I instantly got about her. ‘I will go to their dog & pony show, with a dead bird draped for an outfit. They won’t know if I only want the publicity or just don’t care about the event.’ It’s one of those grand statements that flummox fashion reporters. They can’t say it’s great, they can’t say it’s awful, and they can’t ignore it without looking like they missed something big. And now anybody else who tries the same sentiment will be just a Bjork copycat. I do, however, wish she would stop assaulting people in airports.
Links fixed, for now at least. I guess linking to YouTube videos is like hitting a moving target.
Bjork is definitely one of a kind…. thank god for artists of her daring and imagination (such as yourself, TMDR). The ‘pop’ music world needs kicks in the pants from artists who advance our thinking about what’s possible while not forgetting the musical heritage that came before.
I may not love everything she delivers, but a .500 batting average is still considered top notch…
Beech
Speaking of “Close But No Cigar,” I’ve often wondered if the opening notes are an homage to the guitar riff from “Please Please Me,” particularly since it’s followed by a brief sample from the Sgt. Pepper Reprise.
J. D.
I’ve got tickets for Björk for Thursday 10 July 2008 at Finlandiapuisto in Helsinki. It will be the first time I will see her live. I can’t wait! Yay!
Jon
I’m not sure I ‘get’ her either… but she sure makes wonderful music.
Darren.
I don’t really ‘get’ her either, and I don’t like everything she does, but I thought that video clip was really interesting. I liked the little airplanes growing inside the lightbulbs and breaking free (the growth and spread of ideas, perhaps?).
Thanks for sharing!
I was just watching “Cigar” again. I hope this song isn’t too autobiographical. It would be sad if you feel that you’ve missed each dream by half a mile.
Come on Thomas…. put us out of our misery.. .GET SOME TOUR DATES POSTED!!! (pssssst, email me 1st so I get tickets)
Björk trod on my foot at a Beck after-party in the 1990s. I’ve haven’t been the same since.