For the last two decades, Björk has pushed every boundary she could find, making just about the weirdest pop music that can still be considered pop music. She’s made beautiful, soulful songs out of electronics, musique concrete, an Inuit choir from Greenland, and her inimitable Icelandic accent that makes English unfamiliar. Her genre-bending music, design, and fashion are currently the subject of a buzzy show at New York’s Museum of Modern Art.
Björk’s 2012 album Biophilia isn’t even an album per se. For each track, there’s an interactive iPad app that teaches musical principles and delves into different aspects of the scientific world. Every song comes with a musical score and lyrics, so that anyone can play along.
“I started off with this project thinking it would be like the frustrated music teacher in me getting out,” she says, “But I ended up learning tons myself.” And as for the music, with songs like “Virus,” “Dark Matter,” and “Cosmogony” — all accompanied by mesmerizing quasi–scientific animation — Björk’s odes to the mysteries of the universe can be as intoxicating as any love song.
(Originally aired October 14, 2011)
Video:Inside Biophilia's Apps
Video:Björk, “Moon” from Biophilia