Bjork's 'Biophilia'

Bjork’s ‘Biophilia’ - An Album as Game - NYTimes.com http://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/25/arts/video-games/bjorks-b...

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CRITIC’S NOTEBOOK Latest in My Network What’s This? Playing the New Bjork Album, and Playing Along, With Apps By SETH SCHIESEL Published: October 24, 2011

Since Thomas Edison invented the phonograph, there has been only RECOMMEND

one way to listen to recorded music: Listen to it. That is, to consume TWITTER

passively a precise sequence of sounds exactly as they have been LINKEDIN arranged. But what if, in addition to songs, a musician provided E-MAIL intuitive, creative tools that let you control the basic components of Advertisement PRINT the music itself? What if the musician joined with programmers and visual artists to turn the songs into encompassing interactive REPRINTS experiences? What if listeners were to become participants? SHARE

Enlarge This Image That is what Bjork has accomplished with her latest conception, “Biophilia,” among the most creative, innovative and important new projects in popular culture. “Biophilia” essentially turns an album into a sort of audiovisual game, delivering a miniature production studio into the world’s willing hands.

Second Wind Ltd Apps/One Little Indian and Well Hart That doesn’t mean I like the music very much. Many of the An image from “Thunderbolt” on songs on “Biophilia” strike me as hyper-serious, “Biophilia,” the new album by Bjork. Each song is also available as an app. self-conscious twaddle; they don’t even make me want to TicketWatch: Theater Offers by E-Mail get up and dance. Yet as a game critic who spends more Related personal time twitching my hips than twiddling my Critic's Notebook: The Science of thumbs, I’m convinced that ambitious artists and Sign up for ticket offers from Broadway shows and other Song, the Song of Science (July 2, 2011) executives in the struggling music industry will recognize “Biophilia” as a vital step forward in rethinking how their ArtsBeat | Popcast: Deciphering MOST E-MAILED RECOMMENDED FOR YOU New Projects by Bjork and Brian work can be conceived, packaged, delivered and made Eno (July 7, 2011) relevant to the public. articles in the snibbe 135 past month All Recommendations The traditional, linear version of “Biophilia,” released this 1. OBSERVATORY Small Telescope Helps Make Big Discovery Breaking news about the arts, month, can be downloaded from services like iTunes. The coverage of live events, critical far more exciting option is to acquire the “Biophilia” reviews, multimedia and more. program from the iPad App Store. Alas, the iPad is the only 2. THE ETHICIST Go to Arts Beat » To Tell or Not to Tell device that delivers the full experience. But what an experience. 3. GADGETWISE Apps That Eke Better Sound From Old You know you’re in for something different when you hear Earphones A sortable calendar of noteworthy the portentous voice of Sir David Attenborough delivering cultural events in the New York 4. NATIONAL BRIEFING | WEST region, selected by Times critics. the introduction to what you thought was merely a pop California: Cigarette Tax Defeated Go to Event Listings » album. “Biophilia,” he intones, is Bjork’s effort to bring us 5. WORLD BRIEFING | AFRICA Enlarge This Image into greater awareness of the wonders of the natural world Eritrea: Government Accused of Human through music and technology. Rights Abuses

1 of 4 6/24/12 9:39 PM Bjork’s ‘Biophilia’ - An Album as Game - NYTimes.com http://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/25/arts/video-games/bjorks-b...

On the iPad screen a galaxy unfolds that you can twist and 6. Approving Billions in Cuts to Social zoom and pan. Each of the 10 major stars represents a Services, California Reaches a Budget Deal

song. When you tap a star, you are offered ways to explore, 7. MEDIA DECODER understand and interact with the tune. There are lyrics and The Breakfast Meeting: New Entry in the Tablet Landscape, and a More Hip NPR detailed musical analyses. You can watch a scrolling score of the song or simply listen as a colorful visualization 8. DOT EARTH On Children and Digital Depictions of passes by. Nature

The real magic happens when you press “play.” That 9. YOU'RE THE BOSS Figuring Out a Better Way to Train Inez van Lamsweerde & Vinoodh Matadin, via doesn’t tell the machine to play the song; it means it’s time Employees One Little Indian/Wellhart Bjork and her team have created a for you to play the song. 10. LETTERS TO THE PUBLIC EDITOR small visual toolbox for each track. Information for Us, or for the Enemy? Bjork and her team have created a small visual toolbox for Enlarge This Image each track. A few, like “Crystalline,” play much like a simple PRESENTED BY Go to Your Recommendations » video game. In “Crystalline” you tilt and swivel the iPad to What’s This? | Don’t Show add colorful crystals to a growing agglomeration as you zoom along neon tunnels. It is one of the few elements of “Biophilia” in which you are not controlling the sound. Instead you are having a visual and motor-control experience meant to complement it. Second Wind Ltd Apps/One Little Indian and Well Hart An image from “Crystalline” on Most parts of “Biophilia” are far more interesting and “Biophilia.” The song's app plays much like a simple video game. ambitious. In “Dark Matter” the user (no longer merely the listener) takes control of a sound-creation tool, tapping Enlarge This Image pools of light to combine and mix tones of Gregorian Selective storytelling from the complexity. You may start with a chromatic tone, but with a stump few taps the program says you have created noises called ALSO IN POLITICS » “Balinese pentatonic” and “mixolydian augmented.” My Photos from the campaign trail favorite was described as (take a breath) “double Continuous coverage of the election harmonic/Gypsy/Byzantine/ chahargah.” (If you don’t know, chahargah is an ancient Persian musical style.) Second Wind Ltd Apps/One Little Indian and Well Hart ADVERTISEMENTS An image from the app for “Moon.” Not all the applets are so esoteric. In “Virus” you prolong the song by swiping invading pathogens away from an Introducing Business Day Live - Watch Now! innocent cell. In “Solstice” you take control of vocals and layers of harps to create your own personal remix. In “Thunderbolt” you augment the song with flashes of lightning and waves of electronica, as if manipulating a sort of personal beat box. In “Hollow” you queue up various proteins for what is meant to be a representation of the microscopic DNA machines within us. Different proteins change the rhythm to time signatures of varying complexity, while you can drag a control to change the tempo, or beats per minute.

These are toys that children could play with for a moment and in some cases serious

musical tools that professionals, students and enthusiasts could spend many hours Ads by Google what's this? exploring. Some of the programs allow you to save your creations for future editing or sharing with friends, though by handing them your iPad, not by exporting your creation to Voice Lessons in San Fran another device or program. Sign up for private singing lessons Rock, pop, jazz. All levels. What I felt shining through the interactive elements of “Biophilia” was commitment from OpenVoiceSingingLessons.com the people behind them, including Bjork herself, to deliver something wholly creative. I could sense an artist who wanted to communicate a feeling, a vision, a passion, an idea — not just through sound and words but also through the modern tools available to the public.

So far, the digital music revolution has meant a shift in the way we buy and store music. But the actual modality of simply listening has remained the same. Instead, the real music revolution may just be beginning: a revolution that changes the substance and practice of loving music.

As for the old-fashioned parts of “Biophilia”? Those I found less successful. Most of the arrangements on the album are aggressively spare and almost proudly antimelodic.

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Instead we have Bjork’s gorgeous, otherworldly voice floating above exceedingly formal compositions dominated by organs, harps, gamelans and some more harplike instruments. To the unschooled ear this comes across as a lot of plinking and plunking.

In reality this is serious music; it’s just too serious for many people, I suspect. There is no toe tapping or head nodding or humming along here. “Crystalline” has the faintest notion of a catchy hook, and there is a brief moment of deep bass club-worthy implosion in “Mutual Core,” my favorite track. But most of the time I felt as if I were straining to understand a mysterious voice crying out from the other side of the universe, which is, I suppose, the desired effect.

Perhaps the actual songs ended up so bare, almost barren, in their construction so they would lend themselves more readily to manipulation in the “Biophilia” iPad apps. It seems logical that it would be easier to make interactive programs manipulate plinks and plunks than interact with and control more richly textured and structured compositions.

None of this, however, should detract from the genius underpinning the overall endeavor. For many musicians and composers, the notion of giving fans the ability to mess around readily with a treasured creation will be anathema. Yet for the confident, bold artists who are ready to help propel the musical experience to a new level enabled by personal technology, Bjork has shown the way.

May others follow.

A version of this article appeared in print on October 25, 2011, on page A1 of the New York edition with the headline: Playing the New Bjork Album, And Playing Along, With Apps.

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