Björk – Biophilia [iPhone, iPad, Sound]

Creative Applications reviews Björk and Scott Snibbe’s experimental music album meets iPad app, Biophilia.

Biophilia is an iPhone/iPad release of Björk’s latest album created in collaboration with Scott Snibbe and her longtime design collaborators M/M (Paris). Comprising a suite of musical pieces and interactive artworks, Biophilia is released as ten in-app download experiences that are accessed through a three-dimensional galaxy, the album’s theme song Cosmogony. The first single Crystalline, is now available, others soon to follow.


Björk has collaborated with artists, designers, scientists, instrument makers, writers and software developers to create an extraordinary multimedia exploration of the universe and its physical forces, processes and structures – of which music is a part. Each in-app experience is inspired by and explores the relationships between musical structures and natural phenomena, from the atomic to the cosmic. You can use Biophilia to make and learn about music, to find out about natural phenomena, or to just enjoy Björk’s music.

Biophilia opens into a three-dimensional galaxy with a compass allowing navigation between the 3-dimensional universe and a two-dimensional track list. By tapping on stars within the constellations you can access each in-app purchase which includes a combination of album art, games, interactive music notation which you can pan through in realtime, lyrics, and essays that explore Björk’s inspirations for the track.

Whilst the app does “borrow” some of the concepts we have already seen in the AppStore and/or on CAN, it never the less offers an unique experience where different elements are weaved together with both sensitivity and precision. The experience is unified, building on different layers of visuals and sound, Bjork with Scott and M/M have just set a new milestone, showing real benefits that lie in collaboration. Considering there are still 8 tracks to go and although I have no intention to cover each one independently, I fear I may have to as from what I have seen in no.1, there are many more wonderful things yet to come. Get it >

Biophilia was created by Björk in collaboration with interactive artist and app developer Scott Snibbe, and Björk’s longtime design collaborators M/M (Paris). Crystalline (one of the in-app purchase tracks) was created by Björk in collaboration with Luc Barthelet, developer of The Sims; TouchPress, creator of The Elements app; and M/M (Paris).

Platform: iPhone/iPad (Universal)
Version: 1.0
Cost: Free + $1.99 in-app purchase
Developer: Second Wind Ltd
iTunes.

Attenborough Intro - Biophilia by Bjork from CreativeApplications.Net on Vimeo.