Customer Reviews

Bjork - Hidden Place (DVD Single)

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

Well, this DVD single present us with Bjork latest video offering and I must confess this is probably one of her strongest. Directed by a team composed of excellent fashion photographers Inez Van Lamsweerde & Vinoodh Matadin together with French superstars art directors M/M (Paris) -the same team that already shot the magnificent 'Volumen' cover-, it shows us Bjork as close as one could get, her face becoming a landscape where you can see liquids, fluids and drawings travelling all over it. The whole thing is like a loop around her face, detailing it again and again, in pace with the bleeps & beeps of the song. The more you see it, the more you love it, catching then the zillions beautiful details you missed the time before Exclusive to this DVD is a 5.1 surround mix of the song plus two bonus audio tracks not available on 'Vespertine' the forthcoming album. Buy it now.

first, let's talk about the video itself. hidden place. it's a wonderful song, and the video goes very well with it. i'm not going to spoil the video, but i will tell you.. in ways, it's similar to the hunter video. bjork, with a camera shoved in her face, singing.. with other things too, of course :)
and the 2 b-sides on the single..RULE!! verandi is the bee's knees!!!!!!!! 8D

I seriously don't understand how a Bjork fan couldn't like this kind of visual feast? Who else but B would allow a camera to stand inchs from her face where every pore is seen? And to have such excited, jumping looking material jumping from the orivices of her face? Truly, it is stunning. And really does fit the song. Listen to interviews Bjork has given about Vespertine as a whole, and she constantly brings up the idea of "creative feelings encircling your head." Sound a little like the video? Yes, it certainly does. <3

This is a cool and innovative idea, releasing a music single on DVD so that it can also include the video. The video for Hidden Place is interesting. At first glance it just seems like strange images in a repeating pattern, which it is. But it definitely grows on you through repeated viewings. It shows why Bjork continues to be an artist who creates groundbreaking videos with directors who wish to push the medium in order to attain its fullest potential.
The two bonus songs are very good too, although the negative is that these songs can only be listened to on your DVD player and not in a traditional CD player, not quite the ideal place for most people. However, this is only a minor gripe and shouldn't deter those who wish to buy this item.

I was very impressed that the DVD single had both Stereo and 5-channel sound. The 2 B-side are wonderful. All around, they have done a good job with the sound.

Bjork comes back with this much awaited new single Hidden Place of the new album Vespertine. The video, in Bjork fashion, is visionary and absolutelt charming. Bjork's ability to combine her odd personality with her incredible sense of music concots one of the best music in the industry. Nothing too overtly commercial yet accessible. Vespertine promises to be the best Bjork's album yet with lush instrumentation and deep, profound lyrics...

SPOILER WARNING: contains extended description for "Hidden Place"

Bjork is an extraordinary woman, whose haunting voice and alien-like visage have the power to create ambivalence-and disturbance-in the listener. Her dark, almond-slitted eyes, full cheeks, and rich, milk-white complexion are enough to instill doubts about her identity, while her ability to schizophrenically stretch her cords at whim is enough to generate poles of attraction and repulsion, admiration and aversion, to the face beholding that alluring voice.

In "Hidden Place," we see that charismatic, mystifying combination-face and voice-fully exploited. The video is fairly simple: viewers see half of her face up-close as colored, neon tears fall from one eye into her mouth, and watch as they exit her mouth and travel up into one nostril. From there, the cycle continues, but for the other half of the face, and repeats at intervals until the song is over. The video's formula-repetition-may sound simple, but for the careful, observant viewer, the result-namely, the moods and feelings that this repetition produces-are complex.

What is so unusual and, perhaps, disturbing about this video are the numerous, but subtle, contradictions permeating Bjork's expressions. After the last notes have fallen, one can't help but feel ambivalent-which is exactly what she wants us to feel. In this video, Bjork dares us to look closer, pulling the viewer into a voyeuristic journey by placing them right in the eye of the camera lens, forcing them to follow her movements-and her tears. First, she hypnotizes us with a partial view of her face, with hair blowing in the wind, and a view of the top of her naked shoulders. The voyeurism begins as viewers are then drawn closer and closer, as the camera moves closer and closer to her face. What seemed invisible now becomes magnified and blown-up, adding to the viewer's anxiety as the camera captures every single, little detail: a hair pore, a blemish, the lines of Bjork's lips. From there, we are led right to the tears. But these are not your ordinary tears. Like mercury, they glide seamlessly-smooth, elongated, and snake-like-in their descent down her cheek. If examined very carefully, the viewer should notice that the tears are not forced, nor are they cried out of sadness or pain. Rather, they flow amidst a facial mien of initial indifference and, later, subdued content. In the last third of the video, we see Bjork, with a partially-suppressed grin, playing with her tears as she tries to lick them into her mouth. And all the while, the chorus chants on, adding a dark and ominous, almost Apocalyptic ambience.

The overall effect is an eerie, disgusted feeling, an utter, visceral self-loathing lyrically reminiscent of Hooverphonic's "L'Odeur Animale." We are drawn in by the overall view, only to be eventually disturbed by the raw details that are revealed. "Hidden Place" is an anomaly of paradoxical proportions, bound between visuals that stimulate the eye's curiosity and lyrics that present a dark, brooding image of human nature: unfulfilled passion, isolation, uncertainty, return-feelings which abide in the repressed recesses of the mind, that which we would otherwise keep "hidden" away from others and the world. However, these lyrical themes seem to suggest yet another theme that is perhaps the underlying, hidden focus of Bjork's message: masks. Maybe what Bjork is trying to say through this song/music video is that we are most comfortable with the mask on, but horrified to discover what we are without it. She taps into something very sublime, going beyond what the phrase "hidden place" seems to suggest (despite a CG, skeleton rendition of the female organ).

"Hidden Place" displays Bjork at her rawest, both as a person and as an artist. And what she achieves with this video is ambivalence. Its genius lies in its revelation of our problematic, troubled condition through a simple manipulation of personal elements-namely, the combination of Bjork's face and voice. Bjork lingers on the fringe between our humanity and something else that transcends it: the paradox between what we portray ourselves to be and what we actually are; the difference between what we want and what we actually have; the ever-present conflict between restraint and desire; and the irony between our longing for another despite our individual, isolated nature as human beings. "Hidden Place," with its ubiquitous combination, is enough to make viewers wonder if they're just looking at her face or if they're really looking at themselves.

I'm a huge fan and i really think this video is simple but AMAZING! They say less is more and this video proves it. M/M Paris did a wonderful job leaving their trademark style in this elegant video. The non lp songs played on the dvd sinply show that little duck. How simple! I love it. A+ all the way! Lets jsut hope the following singles will be released on dvd!

This DVD single has a total of four songs on it. Two of them are the same song, just recorded differently (one in stereo and one in a 5.1 surround mix). They are set to the same video, which features a close-up of Bjork's face discharging a computer-generated mucus. The camera circles around her face as the mucus comes out of her eyes, down her face, under her chin (where she merrily attempts to taste it), up into her nose, and back out her eyes. Little drawings pop up on her cheek every once in a while, just to offer a break from the mucus. The whole process repeats itself for about five minutes.

Amazed at the artistic genius? Think that Bjork is just being her usual nutty, crazy, lovable self? Well, wait for the real goodies: "Generous Palmstroke" features a white duck on a black background (one of the trademarks of Bjork), which sits there for the whole song, unmoving. "Verandi" features the same duck, but this time it's colored black against a white background. How's that for creativity?

Is the music good? YES. But, this is a DVD, and I assume you're looking for more than just music. You're looking for images, the artist's visual perception of her songs. "Hidden Place" was interesting to watch once, and disgusting every time after that. Buy this only if you must own everything that is Bjork. But personally, I can't believe I wasted my money on this DVD. Learn from me and don't make the same mistake.

this music video of her's is the one of her best pieces of music i have seen or heard in a long time. ever since HOMOGENIC, i have been waiting on pure brand new björk material and finally, she has this opus, this masterpiece {which all of them are fantastic} has been unleashed to us, her dying fans!!!!! this is gold !!!!!

thanx