‘Biophilia’

Very few artists can successfully combine what is educational and informative with what is entertaining. For those as insanely creative—and creatively insane—as Bjork, however, rock and roll is a learning experience as much as a tour-de-force performance.

The famous swan-dressed Icelander—and as the Gothamist put it, “sometimes New Yorker”—Bjork will be performing 10 shows over three weeks in February. The dates will be in support of her “Biophilia” project, a live show and concept album that was released last year over a series of iPad applications.

To call “Biophilia” merely a concept album and tour is an understatement. It can be more accurately described as an undertaking combining art, music, and science, formed in collaboration with app developers, scientists, writers, inventors, and of course, a plethora of musicians. The iPad apps, however, are fittingly gaining a lot of attention for their innovation.

“I wanted to write the album using a touch-screen,” Bjork said in an interview on “The Colbert Report.” “This was in 2008, two years before the album came out, so I couldn’t even imagine that would happen.” The idea for the apps took shape as Bjork adopted electronic techniques to write the album. The result is an interactive musical experience that allows listeners to join. The song
“Cosmogony,” for example, was released as the “Solar System” iPad app, enabling listeners to push buttons, move slides, turn wheels, and even destroy planets in order to play the notes of the song. There’s even a tutorial app for the apps on the album.

The themes of science, physics, and innovation are reflected in the album’s subject matter. Song titles like “Crystalline,” “Dark Matter,” “Mutual Core,” and “Solstice” suggest that the collection would hardly be out of place at a party filled with astrophysicists in search of extraterrestrial life—and who are maybe even using Bjork’s apps to do so.

Bjork will play four shows in Roseland Ballroom (239 W. 52nd St., between Broadway and Eighth Avenue), beginning Feb. 22. The shows will feature more of the innovation associated with the album, including instruments built by an Icelandic organ builder and an MIT graduate. Joining Bjork on stage will be Manu Delago, an Austrian percussionist known for playing the Hang­—a Swiss percussion instrument invented in 2000 and based on the Indonesian gamelan. In a rare move for a computer programmer, app developer Max Weisel will be performing alongside Bjork and an award-winning 24-piece female choir.

Six more of her New York shows will be held at the New York Hall of Science (4701 111th St.) in Queens, the city’s only hands-on science and technology museum. The first is on Feb. 3.
Bjork is also establishing a three-week education series for middle-school children, with interactive science and music workshops. Students will learn about scientific concepts within the album’s songs, as well as how use the app’s function to compose music.

With a vision spanning various forms of media and a focus on science and education, Bjork may have raised the bar for innovation as a musical artist—at least until Justin Bieber figures out the Kinect.