"Moon" is a song by Icelandic artist

Björk Björk Guðmundsdóttir ( , ; born 21 November 1965), known mononymously as Björk, is an Icelandic singer, songwriter, composer, record producer, and actress. Noted for her distinct voice, three-octave vocal range, and eccentric public per ...

. It is the first track on her album '' Biophilia'' and was released as the fourth and final single before the release of the album on September 6, 2011. Each song in the album features a theme related to nature. In "Moon", Björk explores the

lunar cycle A lunar phase or Moon phase is the apparent shape of the Moon's directly sunlit portion as viewed from the Earth. Because the Moon is tidally locked with the Earth, the same hemisphere is always facing the Earth. In common usage, the four majo ...

s and the effect they have on Earth.

Background and composition

The song "Moon" is based on four different

sequences In mathematics, a sequence is an enumerated collection of objects in which repetitions are allowed and order matters. Like a set, it contains members (also called ''elements'', or ''terms''). The number of elements (possibly infinite) is call ...

played by four different harpists:

Zeena Parkins Zeena Parkins (born 1956) is an American composer and multi-instrumentalist active in experimental, free improvised, contemporary classical, and avant-jazz music; she is known for having "reinvented the harp". Parkins performs on standard har ...

, Shelley Burgon, Sara Cutler, Carol Emanuel. These sequences repeat throughout the song, resembling the

s. The song has 17/8

time signature A time signature (also known as meter signature, metre signature, and measure signature) is an indication in music notation that specifies how many note values of a particular type fit into each measure ( bar). The time signature indicates th ...

with instrumental sections in 5/8. The lyrics to "Moon" deals with themes such as

rebirth Rebirth may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Film * ''Rebirth'' (2011 film), a 2011 Japanese drama film * ''Rebirth'' (2016 film), a 2016 American thriller film * ''Rebirth'', a 2011 documentary film produced by Project Rebirth * '' ...

, start over and

mythology Myth is a genre of folklore consisting primarily of narratives that play a fundamental role in a society. For scholars, this is very different from the vernacular usage of the term "myth" that refers to a belief that is not true. Instead, the ...

, making reference to the

Moon The Moon is Earth's only natural satellite. It Orbit of the Moon, orbits around Earth at Lunar distance, an average distance of (; about 30 times Earth diameter, Earth's diameter). The Moon rotation, rotates, with a rotation period (lunar ...

as "adrenalin pearls placed in the gods' mouths". About the song, Björk explained: "With each

new moon In astronomy, the new moon is the first lunar phase, when the Moon and Sun have the same ecliptic longitude. At this phase, the lunar disk is not visible to the naked eye, except when it is silhouetted against the Sun during a solar eclipse. ...

we complete a cycle and are offered renewal —to take risks, to connect with other people, to love, to give. The symbolism of the moon as the realm of imagination, melancholy, and regeneration is expressed in the song"

Music video

The music video for "Moon" premiered on September 23, 2011, in Björk's official YouTube page. In the video, Björk's image is alternated with images of the Moon, resembling the moon's phases. The singer wears the same orange wig and brown costume that is seen in the '' Biophilia'' album cover.

Promotion

Music video

The video for "Moon" was directed by

M/M Paris M/M (Paris) is an art and design partnership consisting of Mathias Augustyniak (born 1967) and Michael Amzalag (born 1968), established in Paris in 1992. M/M are best known for their art direction and collaborations with musicians (Björk, Madonn ...

, Inez & Vinoodh and James Merry and recorded spontaneously during the photo sessions for ''Biophilia''. Björk sings the song with the orange

crystal A crystal or crystalline solid is a solid material whose constituents (such as atoms, molecules, or ions) are arranged in a highly ordered microscopic structure, forming a crystal lattice that extends in all directions. In addition, macros ...

that also features on the ''Biophilia'' album and singles cover, in one take. Images from the 'Moon' app appear superposed throughout the video.

App

The 'Moon' app for

iPad The iPad is a brand of tablet computers developed and marketed by Apple Inc., Apple that run the company's mobile operating systems iOS and later iPadOS. The IPad (1st generation), first-generation iPad was introduced on January 27, 2010. ...

and

iPhone The iPhone is a line of smartphones developed and marketed by Apple that run iOS, the company's own mobile operating system. The first-generation iPhone was announced by then–Apple CEO and co-founder Steve Jobs on January 9, 2007, at ...

was developed by 18-year-old programmer Max Weisel, and is a musical sequencer which features 17 moons (representing each pulse of a time bar in the song). By changing the position of each moon, one changes the note it produces, thus forming a new melody each time which can be played with Björk's voice. The app also allows one to play the original song.

Track listing

Digital download #"Moon" – 5:40

Official versions

*Album version – 5:45 *Single version – 5:40 * The Slips Remix – 6:09 released on Part 8 of the Biophilia Remix Series *MIF live version – 6:22 (Biophilia: Manual Edition CD2)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Moon (Bjork song) 2011 singles 2011 songs Björk songs Song recordings produced by Björk Songs written by Björk Songs about the Moon