Reykjavík Grapevine - 07.10.2011, Side 53

Look. We’ll come right out and say it. Björk Guðmundsdóttir is a genius, an innovator and a vi-
sionary. Her new record, ‘Biophilia’ is a
feat; it marks her best work in at least a
decade and everything surrounding it—
apps, graphics, concepts, music schools
(!)—reeks of the future in such an in-
spiring and novel way that it makes all
other musicians look sorta bad, really.
You are much more interested in read-
ing what she has to say about things, so
this intro will end now. And if you want
more, you may read a far longer version
of this conversation on our fancy Air-
waves website.
I’ve been listening to ‘Biophilia’ for a
few days now, and the apps, educational
aspect and concept were just explained
to me by your assistant. I am stunned.
All I can think of asking is: what is this?
What did you do? WTF?
I’ve found the simplest way to describe
the project is by talking about the touch-
screen aspect. Whenever I make an al-
bum, I am never quite sure what I am
doing, then when I’m done I sit down
and try to make a little sense. And it
wasn’t until after I had done a fair num-
ber of interviews post-the Manchester
performances that I had simplified the
idea and concept enough to talk about it
properly. And I found the key point was
the touch screen.
I had used touchscreens on the ‘Vol-
ta’ tour, in the form of the Reactable and
Lemur devices, and when I started this
new project in 2008 I wanted to con-
tinue using them for writing music. So
I thought: “How would you write music
on such a device?” This lead me to map-
ping how I view my songs in terms of
structure, and that sent me right back to
my time studying music in grade school,
what I liked and disliked about that edu-
cation. And how I thought about writing
music. This was my mental process.
Then, the touchscreen has brought
along some revolutions.
It’s changing how we interact with a
computer...
Yes, that’s really it. That’s what the proj-
ect is about in short. I was mapping how
I think about music theory, how I write
songs, and how that could transfer to
that new process; because I have never
been able to write songs like a trouba-
dour with a piano or a guitar [retches].
The idea was a little along the lines of:
“If I were making my version of an
acoustic guitar to write music with like
a folk singer, what would I put in that?
What do I put on the touchscreen? And
I immediately thought of nature and its
structures, I started tapping into that...
Wait, I want to back up. Learning
music theory and music, I felt it was too
academic. You didn’t get to experiment
and find your voice and your style. It
wasn’t about the individual so much as
mass-training conveyor belts of kids into
playing for the symphony orchestra. “If
you practice for several hours a day for
fifteen years, you might be in the sym-
phony” was sort of the carrot. That’s cool
and great, I love watching classical per-
formers and I admire them, but for kids
who love music, there are a lot of other
things that are important. Like compos-
ing music. The pictures that young kids
draw, you want to hang each and every
one of them on the wall, because they
are all brilliant. And I thought: “If kids
could write music like they draw those
pictures, without being brilliant violin
players or whatever...”
Rhythm is impoRtant
Indeed, your assistant just showed me
a clip of children in Manchester [where
Björk had her first ‘Biophilia’ event]
playing music through your apps... were
you making the instrument, or ma-
chine, you’ve always needed?
Yes, a little. I was being selfish, really,
making the sort of discipline or course
I would have liked to study in grade
school, the one I never got to attend.
“Why moan about missing it, why not
create one now?” I thought. Maybe it’s
a way for more intuitive songwriting?
I have written a lot of melodies while
walking outside, thinking of rhythms.
Rhythm has always been important
to me; when in The Sugarcubes and
Kukl I often worked with Sigtryggur
[Baldursson, drummer of both bands,
extraordinaire in his own right]—we’d
BJÖRK
FANCY
SPECIAL
WILL
TEACH
YOU!
Continues on page 8
“I always assumed I’d be a music teacher
when I grew up. Then this whole pop music
adventure happened and I’ve really liked that.”
Words
Haukur S. Magnússon
Photography
Emma Birkett