“Isobel” by Björk

"Isobel" came off Post, Björk's second album, as its second single in August 1995, and it's a fairy tale set to breakbeats. Sjón wrote the words from a story Björk dreamed up: a heroine born by magic in a forest who carries instinct into a city run on cold logic. Her tale also runs through "Human Behaviour" and "Bachelorette", and the three songs make a trilogy. Björk produced it with Nellee Hooper, who shares the writing credit with Marius de Vries, and the plush orchestral swell (Maurice Murphy's trumpet, Anthony Pleeth's cello, Robert Smissen's viola) rides on electronic beats.

Michel Gondry's video turned the story into something like a surreal early film; critics loved it, MTV ignored it. Fans later voted the song onto her 2002 Greatest Hits.

Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.