Track Record

With Apps And New Tech, Is Bjork’s Biophilia The First iAlbum?

So, Bjork’s highly anticipated new multimedia album, Biophilia, is out this week after being pushed back from its original September 27 release date.

Can I be honest about something? I find the whole thing really, really intimidating! I mean it’s got iPad apps, custom-designed instruments, two-month concert residencies, science and music classes for kids. Oh, and an album.

It’s all just a little overwhelming.

So it’s a relief to find out the album itself can stand on its own. For all the bells and whistles associated with its release and promotion, Biophilia is pretty much just another Bjork album.

I don’t mean that to sound dismissive. A Bjork album is usually a lovely thing to hear—in a left-of-center kind of way—and Biophilia delivers on the singer’s familiar territory: beats and electronic distortion interlaced with ethereal embellishments like harps, strings, music boxes, and Bjork’s distinctive elasticized wail.

 

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“Crystaline,” one of the album’s lead singles, adds a sort of tinny toy piano sound to that mixture.

 

And the apps? As one of the few people left on the planet who doesn’t have an iPad or iPhone, I’m opting out. But I guess I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t curious, or that there isn’t a part of me that wonders if I’m actually missing something—some vital part of the Biophilia experience.

Based on this sneak peek of the Biophilia app suite, each song’s application appears to be a little game in which you can play around with the different elements of the song.

 

But maybe you’d rather have renowned British naturalist Sir David Attenborough explain the whole shebang to you:

Is this is the future of releasing music? I’m sure there are people who will say that it is. But I’d rather hear the innovation than play with it. There’s nothing especially wrong with Biophilia, except that it sounds like an album we’ve heard from Bjork before. Maybe that’s to be expected from an artist who has already pushed so many boundaries.

But next time around, hopefully, the story will be the music and not the bells and whistles.

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