On March 17, 2011, renowned Icelandic singer, Björk Guðmundsdótti, announced her upcoming album entitled Biophilia. This is her first album since 2007’s masterpiece Volta. She will be release the album in an interesting format: as an app.
This is certainly not the first time that Björk has been innovative. She always keeps an open mind and tries new sounds and new formats with her music. She does this on each of her albums. She first went solo in 1992 after The Sugarcubes broke up. She transitioned from her more rock aesthetic to the Dance sound of her debut album, Debut, in 1993. She released her second studio album in 1995 entitled Post. She began moving into a more electronic style. After this she embraced the use of beats and strings, which helped great one of her most memorable albums Homogenic in 1997. Some of the album’s good reviews came from Radiohead frontman Thom Yorke who would eventually become one of her many collaborators.
In her 2001 follow up, Vespertine, she added chamber orchestras, choirs, close-mic vocals, and new themes to her repertoire. In 2004 she created her most innovative album, Medúlla. During the album’s production, Björk decided that the album needed to be completely vocal based. She enlisted the vocal skills of hip-hop beatboxer Rahzel and many other talented artists including throat singer Tagaq. This has been her most innovative album to day. Three years later, she released Volta: her most recent album. She began experimenting with African beats and a new colorful tribal image. The album featured collaborates Antony Hegarty (“The Dull Flame of Desire”) and famous producer Timbaland.
Her seventh studio album, Biophilia, is still incomplete. It has been recorded on the iPad and is planned to be releases as a number of applications. It is going to be the world’s first app based album. Björk has been collaborating with Apple. Michel Gondry (Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, The Green Hornet) is the director of this project. Björk has described it as “encompassing music, apps, internet, installations and live shows”. Some of the album’s material will debut at her summer concerts at the Manchester International Festival.
Some of the music of Biophilia has already appeared in an iPad app called “Solar System” (developed by Touch Press, Faber and Faber and written by Marcus Chown). It is an eBook that contains 3D interactive objects, movies, diagrams and animations. It is all based upon real life scientific data. It contains images from NASA, Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency and the European Space Agency.
I have always said that it was a matter of time until someone releases an app album. It all has to start with one person making the initiative and Björk (with the help of Apple) has stepped up to the future of music.
References:
http://consequenceofsound.net/2011/03/bjork-readies-ipad-album-biophilia/
http://www.guardian.co.uk/culture/2011/mar/18/bjork-albarn-manchester-international-festival
http://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/bjoerk-to-debut-new-biophilia-songs-at-residency-in-england-20110317
http://www.pastemagazine.com/articles/2011/01/bjork-song-used-in-solar-system-ipad-app.html
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