In the wake of Flappy Bird’s final flight earlier this month, English alt-rock legends Radiohead released their first smartphone application, Polyfauna. More visual experience than video game, Polyfauna offers users an interactive playground of looping colors and sounds. Each new area explored features different layers of the band’s 2011 track “Bloom.” Developed in collaboration with software design studio Universal Everything, the band states that the app “comes from an interest in early computer lifeexperiments and the imagined creatures of our subconscious.”
The free application is yet another in a recent trend that finds high-profile artists taking to the Apple App Store and Google Play platforms to create new experiences for listeners.
Icelandic avant-garde artist Bj’Û,rk released her own experimental app, Biophilia, in 2012. The application retails for $13 and features games, animations and essays based on each of the tracks on her 2012 record of the same name. Bjork’s vision for the application came about when she was unable to curate an entire museum exhibit dedicated to the album. The 48-year-old artist composed much of the record using a tablet computer, and viewed the device as the most relevant method of bringing her vision for Biophilia to life.
Independent musicians have also managed to make a place for themselves in the app market. Many have even gone as far as to create new concepts that go beyond their own catalogues.
Baltimore electronic artist Dan Deacon introduced a companion app in support of his 2012 American Tour. Labeled a “crowdsourcing experiment,” Deacon asked fans to download the app and hold it up at specific moments during his performance. The app responds to audio calibration tones used in the live set and creates a synchronized smartphone light show. The company behind the app, Wham City Lights, went on to release software that allows anyone to create a custom light show that works with Deacon’s free application.
Across the country from Deacon, Portland-based singer-songwriter Matthew Ward released an application in support of his own 2012 record, “A Wasteland Companion.” The app features a standard set of options seen in many artist downloads. A list of M. Ward’s tour dates and a link to the guitarist’s Twitter feed accompany a button that signs users up for the official mailing list. The standout comes in the form of a “Public Radio” icon on the app’s home screen. The option gives users free access to a sizable database of public radio stations from around the country. Completely unrelated to Ward or his music, the feature only leads to non-commercial stations that the artist claims are both valuable and unbiased.
The music industry has already harnessed the power of mobile phones in nearly every way, from concert ticketing to streaming services and even audio recording. The application market is still a budding platform for the artists themselves and creative possibilities are nearly endless. Only time and further experimentation will show whether musicians continue to embrace the smartphone as a method of reaching listeners. If Radiohead’s Polyfauna is any indication, the future will be a trip.
