Björk doesn't so much perform on a stage — she inhabits a space.
If you've never had the opportunity to witness her live, it's worth watching the concert films that surround her thoughtfully curated tours. She transforms the stage and employs musicians that are sympathetic to both the records and her broader vision for them, whether the sparse and white set for Vespertine Live with Matmos and harpist Zeena Parkins; the DayGlo-rich Voltaic featuring horns, lots of forward-thinking electronics and frenzied drummers; and the cosmic Biophilia Live with a female choir.
This time, the Icelandic composer brought her flute orchestra to Later... With Jools Holland, her first television performance since performing "Cosmogony" on The Colbert Report in 2012. Surrounded by voluminous flora and what can only be described as a Georgia O'Keefe-inspired butterfly sculpture, they perform "Courtship" from last year's Utopia and a stunning version of "The Anchor Song," originally released on Debut in 1993. The latter, in particular, makes incredible use of the song's space, with a flute arrangement that blooms in and out of Björk's oceanic meditations on home.
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