Biophiliapp

Björk’s latest release, “Biophilia,” is an extremely ambitious project from an artist known for her unusual, ambitious projects. As its name suggests, “Biophilia” seeks to encapsulate humanity’s relationship with the biology of the natural world using music.

Given the abstract nature of the album’s theme, Björk looked for ways to enhance the experience for listeners, eventually settling on an iPad app, due to the popularity and flexibility of the platform. As a result, the album is available as a traditional album, and each track has its own app, all contained within the free “Biophilia” app.

The music on “Biophilia” is largely enjoyable, but some of the songs are less than accessible on the first listen. The tracks are sparsely orchestrated, with Björk’s trademark vocals accompanied by just a few instruments, different from track to track.

One standout is “Dark Matter,” which sounds like a demon-possessed version of Imogen Heap’s “Hide and Seek.” 

Unusual instruments are on display here, including several built specifically for Björk to use on the album. The relationship between the instruments and the songs’ themes are sometimes apparent (for example, the sparkling chimes on “Crystalline” or the Tesla coil on “Thunderbolt”), but other tracks remain thematically unconvincing, even after the lengthy explanations available in the app. 

The album is a more compelling work — and a better buy — in its app form. The $9.99 in-app purchase gets you all 10 $1.99 mini-apps, allowing you to listen to the entire album while enjoying a great deal of additional content. Each mini-app contains the interactive musical app, an animation accompanying the complete song, an explanation of how the app relates to the theme of the track, a detailed musical analysis and lyrics.

In the “Crystalline” app, for example, you pilot a polygonal crystal down colored tunnels as the track plays. Periodically, you can choose to change tunnels, causing a different section of the song to play. This lets you reshape the song to your liking, and the options increase as you unlock new tunnels. Other apps let you create, save and export your own music, among other things.

The “Biophilia” app album is a fresh and compelling model for artists to provide a musical experience that goes beyond audio files while containing some gorgeous pieces of music. However, its attempt at such an abstract theme results in lyrics that are borderline nonsensical, which make many of the ambitious comparisons ring hollow.