Björk’s ‘Biophilia’ Becomes the First-Ever Album Released as iPhone and iPad Apps

Björk, one of the most original musicians of nowadays, has released a new album—this time an interactive one. The album called ‘Biophilia’ and the ambitious project deals with themes of nature, science and humanity’s relationships encouraging listeners to explore it via iPhone and iPad apps. This is the first-ever musical album with such apps.

Using it, listeners can literally manipulate Björk’s music with various games, remix it and further understand the scientific and musical principles behind each song. To release the ‘scientific’ album, Björk heavily researched astrophysics, string theory, neurology, biology and other areas where science and music meet.

Though the apps offer great entertainment for users, the songs don’t become secondary. Isolated from the iPad, Biophilia’s songs sound minimalist using a specific set of non-traditional instruments that support Björk’s singing like a backbone.

The title of the album came to Björk after she read a book by neurologist Oliver Sachs about the mind’s empathy for music. So, she decided to call it Biophilia, meaning a kind of empathy with nature. Song titles like ‘Solstice,’ ‘Virus’ and ‘Crystalline’ and the lyrics also touch on processes in nature—for instance, how crystals grow or how virus spread.