Cosmogony (song)

Edit links
Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

"Cosmogony"
Single by Björk
from the album Biophilia
B-side
  • "Crystalline"
  • "Thunderbolt"
Released19 July 2011
Genre
Length4:51
One Little Indian
Songwriter(s)
  • Bjork
  • Sjón
Producer(s)Björk
Björk singles chronology
"Crystalline"
(2011) 		"Cosmogony"
(2011) 		"Virus"
(2011)

"Cosmogony" is a song by Icelandic artist

vinyl
.

Development and composition

In January 2011, when the app Solar System by

Touch Press was released, it was accompanied by an instrumental introduction written by Björk. This song was the instrumental version of "Cosmogony". In March 2011[1] it was announced that Björk would play at the Manchester International Festival
with a new concept of concert. Several songs from the album debuted during a series of performances at the festival between June 27 and July 16, 2011. Björk called the performances a "meditation on the relationship between music, nature and technology"."Special" instruments were designed and constructed specifically for these concerts.

"Cosmogony" is a calm and warm song, marking the link between the previous Björk project, Volta and Biophilia, using distorted brass, but in a much more intimate soft way. It has a time signature 4/4, and runs at a slow tempo of 60 beats per minute. The lyrics to "Cosmogony" are also far from the rest of the songs on the album, while those are focused on technic or metaphoric facts about a natural phenomenon, the "Cosmogony" lyrics turn into a philosophic view, based on several myths about the creation of the universe. Björk explained:

This song is the "music of the spheres" song for me... So it's all about copper and rotating things and harmony and equilibrium and the universe and where there’ s a place for every little thing and we're all taken care of.

Björk also considers the song as some kind of joke, branding the

Big Bang theory
as a 20th-century creation myth:

I guess after watching documentaries about string theory, [the song] was sort of a personal joke [...] Big Bang [is] 20th Century and string theory [is] so 21st Century [...] I guess all creation myths at the time of their making were science. I’ll bet the pharaohs thought pyramids and mummies were the future – that was pretty science fiction. 3000 years later it is just mythology and the creation myth. In this song you have 4 verses. The first verse is the American native creation myth, next verse is Sanskrit creation myth, the 3rd verse is Aboriginal creation myth and the 4th verse is Big Bang theory.[2]

Promotion

App

Every song on Biophilia has an

app for iPhone or iPad
. The main app was released on July 19, 2011, coinciding with the release of "Cosmogony", and it integrates all the songs' apps.

"Cosmogony" is the "mother app" that consists of the main menu of all of the other apps connected to Biophilia. Visually, it is a 3D universe designed by

M/M (Paris)
that can be explored that includes shortcuts to the rest of the apps.

Live performances

Björk debuted all songs from Biophilia during a series of performances at the Manchester International Festival in England between 27 June and 16 July 2011. Björk performed Biophilia tracks and music from her back catalogue with a small group of musical collaborators, including Graduale Nobili, an Icelandic female choir.[3][4]

Björk performed "Cosmogony", alongside "Crystalline" and "Thunderbolt" live on

iPads that produced beats, played by Max Weisel. Her performance was well received by critics who deemed it as "heavenly"[6] and "pretty euphoric".[7]

Track listing

Official versions

Charts

Chart performance for "Cosmogony"
Chart (2011) Peak
position
Iceland (RÚV)[8] 23
UK Indie (OCC)[9] 31
US
Dance/Electronic Digital Songs (Billboard)[10]
 44

Release history

Release history and formats for "Cosmogony"
Country Date Format Label
Various[11] 19 July 2011 "Cosmogony" digital download
One Little Indian
Serban Ghenea Mixes
  • CD
  • LP
  • digital download
26 July 2011 Omar Souleyman Versions
  • CD
  • LP
  • digital download
2 August 2011 Crystalline Matthew Herbert Mixes
  • CD
  • LP
  • digital download
Cosmogony Matthew Herbert Mixes
  • CD
  • LP
  • digital download

References

  1. ^ Collett-White, Mike (17 March 2011). "Snoop Dogg, Bjork to star at Manchester Festival". Reuters. Retrieved 24 October 2011.
  2. ^ "StreetDate.Radio.com - bjork.fr". Archived from the original on 11 August 2014. Retrieved 18 July 2014.
  3. ^ Perpetua, Matthew (17 March 2011). "Björk to Debut New 'Biophilia' Songs at Residency in England". Rolling Stone. Retrieved 17 March 2011.
  4. Consequence of Sound
    . Retrieved 17 March 2011.
  5. ^ "Björk, Later 2011". Archived from the original on 6 December 2011. Retrieved 27 November 2011.
  6. ^ a b Matheson, Whitney (1 February 2012). "Video: Stephen Colbert gets up close with Bjork". USA Today. Retrieved 1 February 2012.
  7. ^ Bleggi, Doug. "Watch Björk perform 'Cosmogony' and get interviewed by Stephen Colbert". Retrieved 1 February 2012.
  8. ^ "Björk Chart History". RÚV. 30 March 2016. Retrieved 31 August 2017.
  9. ^ "Official Independent Singles Chart Top 50". Official Charts Company.
  10. ^ "Björk - Chart history | Billboard". Billboard. Prometheus Global Media. Retrieved 18 July 2014.
  11. ^ "bjork.com official shop". Archived from the original on 23 September 2011. Retrieved 24 September 2011.
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Cosmogony_(song)&oldid=1208719309"