Björk’s previous effort, 2007’s Volta, was largely well received by the music press, with the single ‘Earth Intruders’ going down a storm. Björk followed up the album with an 18-month world tour, her first in four years, including a rare appearance at Glastonbury. Björk wasn’t entirely satisfied with Volta and set out to do something completely different with Biophilia, attempting to change the landscape of how music was consumed.
Björk was typically busy in the wake of Volta’s release, with the intervening years reflecting her growing status as an environmentalist. 2008 saw her release ‘Náttúra’, her first single recorded entirely in Icelandic and featuring backing vocals from Radiohead’s Thom Yorke. The song promoted the protection of the Icelandic environment, with all proceeds of the single going to the environmental preservation campaign from which the song derives its name. Björk strongly advocated for the protection of natural resources, petitioning strongly against the takeover of Icelandic geothermal power company HS Orka by renewable power company Magma Energy.
Björk took her activism further in 2010, releasing an EP, Mount Wittenberg Orca, alongside the American indie rock band Dirty Projectors, with all funds raising money for marine conservation charities. Björk also received the prestigious Polar Music Prize, awarded by the Royal Swedish Academy of Music, alongside classical composer Ennio Morricone. She also performed a duet with Volta collaborator Anohni, featured on the Antony and the Johnsons album Swanlight. But in the background, Björk was working on her most expansive project yet, for she envisioned Biophilia as much more than just an album. Björk desired to create a multimedia project, the first-ever “app album”, creating something innovative and, more importantly, interactive.
Ironically, despite the album’s grandiose intentions, it began in a very minimal way, with Björk initially creating songs on an Apple iPad. Björk perceived touch differently from others; she had long proved herself as a master of patterns and structures, and creating songs on a touch screen only enhanced her perceptive nature as she traced out humanity’s relationship with nature and environment. Biophilia was written during a financial crisis in Iceland, which had environmental implications for the country. It’s an album that reflects Björk’s affinity with nature and her desire to educate people about the importance of preserving the environment. However, Björk went beyond music with Biophilia, seeking to create an immersive and educational experience.
Biophilia wasn’t just released as an ordinary record but also as an app. The Biophilia app consisted of a series of ten apps, each corresponding to a song on the album. Björk’s collaborators went beyond the musical on Biophilia, working with programmers and scientists to produce the apps. When first opening the app, the user would be greeted by David Attenborough, providing an introductory explanation of the application and project. Every app would come with its own unique animation, with the colours and movement relating to the song’s structure. Each app also came with a corresponding essay on the song, giving an option for an educational experience. There was a heavy emphasis on the interactive experience, with some apps featuring games or even the ability to manipulate the music.
Musically, Björk strayed even further than the normally vast boundaries she set herself. Ever the innovator, she commissioned new instruments to be developed for the album, all designed to help replicate the sound of the environment. A gameleste, a mixture of a gamelan (a kind of Indonesian percussion) and a celesta, programmed to be remotely played on a tablet computer, was used on the tracks ‘Crystalline’ and ‘Virus’. A tesla coil was used to fascinating effect on ‘Thunderbolt’, while “Gravity Harps” (four pendulums suspended in the air that swing back and forth producing musical instruments) featured on ‘Solstice’.
The result was a wonderfully warped record, as futuristic as it was archaic, combining technology and nature into a voyage of discovery. Despite its electronic underbelly, the album feels compellingly human, wrapped with an intimate warmth only Björk could create. It’s challenging, but only in its mesmerising power, with sounds that captivate and hypnotise, while it’s more accessible than its entourage of accompanying digital paraphernalia suggests. It’s Björk’s most radical record, but the core elements which ingratiate her previous efforts remain; atmosphere, emotion, and beauty. For an album dedicated to natural sounds, it’s appropriate that Björk’s voice is the most potent instrument.
The opening track, ‘Moon’, is appropriately cyclical, both musically and lyrically. It comprises four repeating musical cycles played by four different harpists and has a spacious, almost melancholic sound. It’s celestially mournful but with a child-like innocence as Björk sings, “Best way to start-a-new/Is to fail miserably”, her words necessitating the need to embrace fear; only then can a new cycle begin. ‘Thunderbolt’ uses the electrical charge of the Tesla coil to create a prickly bassline that sounds like a dense church organ, giving the whole track a distinctly ominous feel. It’s a twitchy, tense number, with the harmonies swirling like storm clouds. The track’s arpeggios represent the time between when lightning is seen and heard.
‘Crystalline’ takes the idea of mineral crystallisation and turns it into a human metaphor, as Björk sings, “Dovetail our generosity/Equalise the flow”, suggesting balance in humanity can only come through cementing our relationships. The gameleste bassline provides one of the album’s most obvious hooks, creating this continuous shimmer. The track concludes with this rapid, bombastic breakcore section which is as brilliant as it is unexpected. ‘Cosmogony’ is richly atmospheric as Björk looks at various creation myths of different cultures. The hymnal quality gives the song a sense of wonder echoed by the cymbals’ distant sound, giving the sense of something being created. Björk’s voice drifts in and out beautifully like she’s floating in space.
‘Dark Matter’ is about the connection of breath, the human soul, and the cosmos. The song features just Björk’s wordless lyrics and the sound of an organ, both instruments powered by air. The wordless lyrics also represent the mysterious nature of dark matter. ‘Hollow’ is a literal dive into Björk, the music video showcasing an exploration of the microscopic and molecular landscapes of her body. Musically it’s an eerie affair, with these crackly dense electronic beats and the staccato rhythm in the background, perhaps representing Björk’s struggle to connect with her ancestry, which can seem vast and consuming. The music box-driven ‘Virus’ explores a parasitic relationship; “The perfect match you and me/I adapt contagious”. The sound is light and airy, but there’s danger underneath, much like a virus can lurk hidden before wreaking havoc.
‘Sacrifice’ explores nature’s design of the female species and is influenced by the experiences of Björk’s female friends. The first verse sees Björk use the conceptualisation of space to address how men stifle women, singing, “Why can’t you give her room?/Respect her spatial needs/I feel you compress her”. It has a ritualistic sound, with these sudden bursts of drum’n’bass rhythm. The final verse sees her sing, “Your generosity will show/In the volume of her glow”, imploring men to stop their repression. ‘Mutual Core’ likens the earth’s geology to human relationships, prone to cracks and shifts. The track is driven by these interspersed crackling electronic beats, representing the eruptions Björk sings about, eventually building to a powerful conclusion. It’s a highlight of the album, with Björk harnessing the nature of the earth and turning it into a track that bubbles with anger. The closing track ‘Solstice’ is based on a poem by Björk’s long-time collaborator and friend, Sjón, and features the specially created “Gravity Harp”. The song is about the movement of the earth, with a suitably floating, atmospheric sound.
Biopolia saw Björk redefine the nature of a concept album while reflecting her growing activism as an artist in an innovative, beguiling manner. The futuristic, grandiose nature of her project never took off in the music industry but showcased Björk as someone willing to take quantum leaps, once again seeking to change the very dynamics of how people consume music. The educational nature of the apps showed her desire to move beyond her status as an artist and use her voice as a vehicle for change. The interactive nature of the apps may damage the mystery of the music, but it is impressive how Björk is able to swaddle her ambition. Biopolia is immersive and complex, but don’t be daunted by the nature of the project; the music has a beauty and intensity that only Björk could create.
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