Björk, Biophilia and plate tectonics

Did you ever imagine I would write about music here? No, of course not. And that was because Björk didn't compose before her new "Biophilia" album, a masterpiece of modern music that aims to mix music, technology and science. Actually, the album has been released as a traditional CD but also as an application for your smartphone. I will leave the review and explanation of the album to other people: CultureLab interview with Björk. (Yes! Bjork in "New Scientist"!).

So, why I write about "Biophilia" in this blog, afterall? Well, first, becuase I love this album and anything that comes out of Björk's mind, and second, because the 8th track of the album deals with... yes, plate tectonics! "Mutual Core" is the 9th track of the album. A song with absolutely explicit scientific lyrics, full of metaphors that we, geologists, will love ("As fast as your finger nails grow/the Atlantic ridge drifts","My Eurasian plate subsumed,/ Forming a mutual core"). I find it absolutely hypnoptic, beautiful and, why not, magnificient.


"Mutual Core"

I shuffle around the tectonic plates in my chest.

You know I gave it all,
Try to match our continents
To change seasonal shift,
To form a mutual core.

As fast as your fingernail grows,
The Atlantic ridge drifts
To counteract distance.

You know I gave it all,
Can you hear the effort of the magnetic strife?
Shuffling of columns
To form a mutual core.

This eruption undoes stagnation.
You didn't know i had it in me,
Withheld your love, an unspent capsule.
I didn't know you had it in you,
You hid the key to our continuity.
I didn't know you had it in you.
This eruption undoes stagnation.
You didn't know, you didn't know.

What you resist persists, nuance makes heat
To counteract distance
I know you gave it all,
Offered me harmony if things were done your way.
My Eurasian plate subsumed,
Forming a mutual core

This eruption undoes stagnation.
You didn't know I had it in me,
Withheld your love, an unspent capsule.
I didn't know you had it in you.
This eruption undoes stagnation
You didn't know i had it in me
This eruption undoes stagnation
You didn't know, you didn't know”