Neon lasers, quick-growing crystals, glowing moon craters and the image of Björk dancing within a metallic disk comprise director Michel Gondry’s eye-popping visual for the singer’s new single, “Crystalline.” The video premiered on Tuesday (July 26) and precedes the release of Björk‘s seventh album, “Biophilia,” which is out Sept. 27.
The video expands upon the upcoming album’s cosmology theme and showcases multi-colored meteorites striking the moon and causing ripples in rhythm with the song. In an interview with Billboard, Gondry (“Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind,” “The Green Hornet”) described the painstaking process of creating the handmade clip.
Björk: The Billboard Cover Story
“We shot it frame by frame, and we shot it by recranking the camera and re-exposing the film many times,” Gondry says. “I decided for this that the shower of meteorite would hit the ground and produce a sound . . . The idea that a beam of light can have the impact to make these things move is something that intrigued me. Later on, they create some ripples-like rain. At the third verse, they create bubbles in which the metallic objects appear. All of those are the result of multiple conversations with [Björk] that were going in many directions.”
Bjork’s ‘Crystalline’ Video: Michel Gondry Offers an Inside Look
“Biophilia” is set to be the world’s first “app album,” with each of the album’s 10 tracks given a unique iPad app; the “Crystalline” app, in which users navigate through neon-colored tunnels and collect crystals to change the sonic structure of the song, is now available in the App Store. To learn more about Björk’s ambitious new project and see a demo of the apps, check out Billboard’s cover story on Björk, on newsstands now.