After teasing us with details earlier this year and recently releasing her "Crystalline" single, Björk has now unveiled the full plans for her ambitious Biophilia project, including the details for her iPad apps, plans for an eight-city, three-year world tour and an in-the-works documentary.
While a release date has not yet been set for the album, a press release explains that Biophilia will be available later this year as a ten-track studio album, available physically and digitally in all formats. But as the PR confirms Biophilia is much more than that, stating the project is "a multimedia project, comprising a studio album, apps, a new website, custom-made musical instruments, live shows and educational workshops."
Each of the ten songs will also be available via Biophilia Apps, which will be come through a "mother app" called Cosmogany and released through Nonesuch and Warner Music Canada. According to the PR, "This platform will serve as a three-dimensional galaxy in which the initial apps appear as constellations, and the others are added to the collection at regular intervals thereafter."
The press release goes on to explain the apps a little further with the following statement:
Every app has its own theme (in connection with its corresponding song) and combines a natural element with a musicological feature. The layers of content in each app include: an interactive game based on the song's scientific and musical subject matter, a musical animation of the song, an animated score, lyrics, and an academic essay. The game enables the user to interact with musical elements of the song and to learn about different musical features while creating their own version; the musical animation and animated music score bring together conventional and innovative ways of representing music visually; and the academic essay explores the ideas behind each song and app and how they are realized musically.
As if that all weren't ambitious enough, Björk will bring Biophilia on a three-year tour that will be composed of six-week residencies in eight cities internationally. These residencies will involve performances of the album by Björk twice a week, where she will "play live a set of custom built musical instruments and evoking an atmosphere similar to being inside the app itself." The remaining time of the residency will see the venues working with local schools to host music education workshops.
Björk's live show will consist of unique instruments created for the artist by an English inventor, an Icelandic organ builder and an MIT Media Lab graduate. They include "four ten-foot pendulum harps, in which the swinging motion plucks the strings and illustrates the songs' gravitational subject matter. There is also a unique ten-foot pin barrel harp called the Sharpsichord, a midi-controlled pipe organ and celeste (refitted with bronze gamelan bars), twin musical tesla coils, a hang player and an award-winning 24-piece Icelandic female choir."
The cities for the tour have not been announced just yet, but Björk will debut the performance on June 30 at the Manchester International Festival.
To top it off, a 90-minute Biophilia documentary is in the works from Pulse Films. The film will follow Björk through the entire creation of Biophilia, from recording the album through rehearsals of the live show and eventually premiering it.
The PR says of the film, "Here we will see her at work in the rehearsals for the live show, in the studio working on the album, and through observational footage, interview and demonstration we will discover how the project was conceived and realized. Along the way we will also discover more about the fascinating relationship between music and the natural world. The climax of this element of the film will be the unveiling of her project; the premiere live performance of Biophilia. The documentary will be broadcast later in the Biophilia campaign."
For now, lead Biophilia single "Crystalline" is available as a download on iTunes. You can also stream it here in our Click Hear section. The PR confirms that director and longtime Björk collaborator Michel Gondry is creating a music video for the song.
As previously reported, Björk's website has also been relaunched with an interactive HTML5 redesign. Check it out in Safari or Google Chrome right here.
While a release date has not yet been set for the album, a press release explains that Biophilia will be available later this year as a ten-track studio album, available physically and digitally in all formats. But as the PR confirms Biophilia is much more than that, stating the project is "a multimedia project, comprising a studio album, apps, a new website, custom-made musical instruments, live shows and educational workshops."
Each of the ten songs will also be available via Biophilia Apps, which will be come through a "mother app" called Cosmogany and released through Nonesuch and Warner Music Canada. According to the PR, "This platform will serve as a three-dimensional galaxy in which the initial apps appear as constellations, and the others are added to the collection at regular intervals thereafter."
The press release goes on to explain the apps a little further with the following statement:
Every app has its own theme (in connection with its corresponding song) and combines a natural element with a musicological feature. The layers of content in each app include: an interactive game based on the song's scientific and musical subject matter, a musical animation of the song, an animated score, lyrics, and an academic essay. The game enables the user to interact with musical elements of the song and to learn about different musical features while creating their own version; the musical animation and animated music score bring together conventional and innovative ways of representing music visually; and the academic essay explores the ideas behind each song and app and how they are realized musically.
As if that all weren't ambitious enough, Björk will bring Biophilia on a three-year tour that will be composed of six-week residencies in eight cities internationally. These residencies will involve performances of the album by Björk twice a week, where she will "play live a set of custom built musical instruments and evoking an atmosphere similar to being inside the app itself." The remaining time of the residency will see the venues working with local schools to host music education workshops.
Björk's live show will consist of unique instruments created for the artist by an English inventor, an Icelandic organ builder and an MIT Media Lab graduate. They include "four ten-foot pendulum harps, in which the swinging motion plucks the strings and illustrates the songs' gravitational subject matter. There is also a unique ten-foot pin barrel harp called the Sharpsichord, a midi-controlled pipe organ and celeste (refitted with bronze gamelan bars), twin musical tesla coils, a hang player and an award-winning 24-piece Icelandic female choir."
The cities for the tour have not been announced just yet, but Björk will debut the performance on June 30 at the Manchester International Festival.
To top it off, a 90-minute Biophilia documentary is in the works from Pulse Films. The film will follow Björk through the entire creation of Biophilia, from recording the album through rehearsals of the live show and eventually premiering it.
The PR says of the film, "Here we will see her at work in the rehearsals for the live show, in the studio working on the album, and through observational footage, interview and demonstration we will discover how the project was conceived and realized. Along the way we will also discover more about the fascinating relationship between music and the natural world. The climax of this element of the film will be the unveiling of her project; the premiere live performance of Biophilia. The documentary will be broadcast later in the Biophilia campaign."
For now, lead Biophilia single "Crystalline" is available as a download on iTunes. You can also stream it here in our Click Hear section. The PR confirms that director and longtime Björk collaborator Michel Gondry is creating a music video for the song.
As previously reported, Björk's website has also been relaunched with an interactive HTML5 redesign. Check it out in Safari or Google Chrome right here.