Bjork Biophilia 2LP

The album title, Biophilia, refers to a love of all living things, and in every aspect of this game-changing multi-media effort, Icelandic composer and performer Björk brilliantly connects nature, music, and technology. At the core of this groundbreaking project, of course, are Björk's sonically brilliant and emotionally stirring songs, akin to the magical, otherworldly, atavistic hymns of her acclaimed 2001 disc, Vespertine. On Vespertine, Björk rhapsodized about a new romance; here, she attempts nothing less than to retell the story of the creation of the universe in her own compellingly idiosyncratic voice.

Biophilia was partly composed on iPad. As Björk does not play conventional instruments, this way of composing appealed to her. New musical instruments were specially developed for the album, and specially for the shows at the Manchester International Festival that took place in mid-2011 to introduce the album. The 'gameleste' is a mixture between a gamelan and a celesta which was programmed in order to be played remotely by an iPad. "Crystalline," the lead single from the album, is mostly electronic and features a continuous 'gameleste' base with electronic beats and rhythms.

"What I always wanted to do was to reconnect musicology with nature," Björk told the New York Times. "I always wanted to make bass lines behave like gravity."

Brilliantly original and ambitious.

Educational and emotional in a uniquely approachable way, these songs are a lovely part of a bigger picture.