Björk, whose new album, Biophilia, was released this week, is in her hometown of Reykjavik, Iceland, to celebrate with the launch of a nine-show Biophilia residency at the brand-new Harpa Concert Hall, beginning with two nights as part of the Iceland Airwaves Festival. The residency is fully sold-out. But not to worry: Nonesuch has teamed up with Icelandair to offer a lucky US fan tickets to the November 7 closing-night performance, plus airfare and hotel accommodations. Enter to win!
Björk, whose new album, Biophilia, was released this week to great critical acclaim, is in her hometown of Reykjavik, Iceland, to celebrate with the launch of a nine-show Biophilia residency at the brand-new Harpa Concert Hall, beginning with two nights as part of the Iceland Airwaves Festival, tonight and Sunday. The residency is fully sold-out. But not to worry: Nonesuch has teamed up with Icelandair to offer one lucky fan two tickets to the November 7 closing-night performance, along with round-trip airfare for two, plus accommodations for two nights at Hotel Natura in Reykjavik. The contest is open to US residents over the age of 18. To enter to win, go to Björk's Facebook page now.
The Reykjavik residency follows this summer's residency at Manchester International Festival, where Biophilia received its world premiere, and her headlining set at Bestival last month. Biophilia residencies in the US will be announced shortly.
Throughout these nine dates, Björk will be performing material from the newly released Biophilia, plus favorite songs from throughout her varied career. Björk has commissioned a set of unique musical instruments to accompany her on the live tour. The team that created these instruments include an English inventor, an Icelandic organ builder and a graduate of MIT Media Lab. Among these creations are four 10-foot pendulum-harps, in which the swinging motion plucks the strings and illustrates the songs' gravitational subject matter. There is also a unique 10-foot pin barrel harp called the Sharpsichord, a midi-controlled pipe organ and celeste (re-fitted with bronze gamelan bars), twin musical tesla coils, a hang player, and an award-winning 24-piece Icelandic female choir.
Accompanying these performances will be an exhibition that helps bring the sounds, visuals and subject content of Biophilia to life. In conjunction with the exhibit and performances will be an educational program for schoolchildren.
New York Times writer Jon Pareles, reviewing the Manchester premiere, described Biophilia as "a possible paradigm for the 21st century album ... The new songs juxtapose hovering textures of choir and organ with sparse pointillism and sudden eruptions of break-beat drumming, all set against Björk’s idiosyncratic melodies."
Rolling Stone gives the new album four stars and includes it among its Editor's Picks of Favorite Songs and Albums Right now. Writer David Fricke explains that, even with the companion App and the album's examination of the meeting of music, nature, and technology, "soul easily trumps software" here. Read the review at rollingstone.com.
To pick up a copy of Biophilia, head to the Nonesuch Store, where CD orders and vinyl pre-orders include high-quality, 320 kbps MP3s of the album; MP3s and FLAC lossless files are also available to purchase.
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