The accompanying music video for "Isobel" was directed by frequent collaborator Michel Gondry and represents the story the lyrics convey.

[4] The original idea for the lyrics dates back to late 1994, when a moth stayed on the collar of Björk's shirt until the evening.

[8] "Isobel" is a string-laden, orchestral trip hop song written by Björk, Nellee Hooper, Marius de Vries and Sjón.

[14] Maurice Murphy's trumpet opens the piece, followed by Deodato's lush string arrangements and Hooper's sound effects which Björk has described as "jungle-istic".

"[15] The lyrics of "Isobel" were noted as having a "visually rich narrative" by website Stereogum,[8] and have been variously described as a fairy tale,[16] a children's story,[17] a fable,[18] and a lullaby.

And by the time she was a grown-up woman and the skyscrapers had taken over the forest, she found herself in a city, and she didn't like all the people there so much, because they were a bit too clever for her.

[1] In the city, Isobel "dances naked on tables and falls in love with all the wrong people and causes pain", so she decides to live in isolation once again.

In the first verse, Björk describes Isobel's birth: "In a forest pitch-dark / Glowed the tiniest spark / It burst into a flame / Like me".

[2] She envisioned the tale inspired by epic stories like those of Colombian writer Gabriel García Márquez —wanting to create "a very South American sort of drama"—,[6] and 19th century literature.

[1] Björk has also described the character as mythological, saying she represents intuition in the way Atlas stands for strength and Neptune is the god of the ocean.

[23] Although the record company was against the idea of releasing "Isobel" as the album's second single after "Army of Me", Björk insisted because she "felt intuitively that this was the right choice".

[28] CD1 featured the B-side "Charlene", a mid-tempo song with sexually suggestive and ambiguous lyrics inspired by friend Kadamba Simmons.

[18] CD2's B-sides are three remixes of "Isobel": one by Eumir Deodato featuring "Brazilian sensibilities", a "vaguely ambient" one by Sigtryggur Baldursson of The Sugarcubes, and a jungle one by Goldie.

Heather Phares of AllMusic highlighted the song's production and arrangement, writing that especially in this track Post "[aims] for, and [accomplishes] more" than simply a Debut redux.

[30] James Masterton wrote in his weekly UK chart commentary in Dotmusic, that the track "finds the Icelandic pixie in an ethereal mood with one of those strange meandering songs which shows off her voice to brilliant effect yet hardly makes for a commercial pop single.

"[31] Taylor Parkes from Melody Maker named "Isobel" the "top dog" of the album, declaring it as "a magic carpet ride through the snowy night sky, a flushed cityscape giving way to miles of silent farmland, then finally the sea.

"[32] Pan-European magazine Music & Media said, "Lighter than "Army of Me", radio won't have trouble with this one on which Björk's weird vocal technique and the off-the-wall production are embedded in sonically-friendly strings.

"[33] Simon Williams from NME noted "where tribal rhythms spiral into enormous swathes of galloping pop fluffiness".

[35] The New Rolling Stone Album Guide commented that "Isobel" features a "more assured [melody] for Björk's voice to circle like Christmas lights," and referred to it as "a light-headed ode to self-adoration.

"[36] Michael Snyder of the San Francisco Chronicle wrote, "She's a feral jungle girl on "Isobel" with its cool Brazilian rhythms and wide-screen strings.

"[37] Music journalist Mark Pytlik considered the UK CD1 release of "Isobel" to be "the finest of the Post-era singles, and certainly a nice refuge from the deluge of remixes that were to follow.

The final music video was projected in 35mm for the crew in a cinema in London; with its varying exposures, lighting effects and monochromatic schema, it resembles an early film.

It tells the story of "a wild child discovering urban culture through installations of toy fighter planes", over lush superimposed imagery.