Moving on from her relationship with Matthew Barney, “Atom Dance” is about healing and being open, and how Björk’s friendships got her through the breakup. She enlists the help of ANOHNI, a good friend who previously appeared on Volta’s “The Dull Flame of Desire” and “My Juvenile”.
“Atom Dance” may...
[Verse 1: Björk]
We are each other’s hemispheres
I am fine tuning my soul
To the universal wavelength
No one is a lover alone
I propose an atom dance
[Verse 2: Björk]
Our hearts are coral reefs in low tide
Love is the ocean we crave
Restlessly turning around and around
I am dancing towards transformation
Learning by love to open it up
Let this ugly wound breathe
We fear unconditional heart space
Healed by atom dance
[Refrain: Björk]
When you feel the flow as primal love
Enter the pain and dance with me
We are each other’s hemispheres
[Verse 3: Björk & Anohni]
We aim at peeling off
Dead layers of loveless love
No one is a lover alone
Most hearts fear their own home
Most hearts, they fear their own home
Becoming themselves fully
It scares them off
[Refrain: Björk]
When you feel the flow as primal love
Enter the pain and dance with me
[Chorus: Anohni]
No one is a lover alone, lone
Most hearts fear their own home
You are my second hemisphere, hemisphere
The atoms are dancing, dancing
[Chorus: Björk & Anohni]
No one is a lover alone, lone
Most hearts fear their own home
You are my second hemisphere, hemisphere
The atoms are dancing, dancing
[Interlude: Björk]
Atoms are laughing at last
Atoms are laughing at last
At last, at last
Atoms are...
[Chorus: Björk & Anohni]
No one is a lover alone
No one is a lover alone, lone
Most hearts fear their own home
You are my second hemisphere, hemisphere
The atoms are dancing, dancing
Björk released Atom Dance on Tue Jan 20 2015.
In a talk for Red Bull Music Academy in 2017, Björk pointed out that she wrote “Atom Dance” addressing Vikivaki, an ancient roundabout that has been taking place around the whole Nordic region since the Middle Ages, and also getting inspired by Sufi poems.
And actually, funny you mention Vikivaki,...