*** Daisy and The Dark - Red Planet EP ***
Watch the online app tutorial here: https://youtu.be/tnvz13ISv4A
Alternative-pop chanteuse/visual artist Daisy and The Dark has collaborated with a team of digital innovators on her debut EP to create a unique interactive app experience, which she describes as ‘magic meeting technology’.
The interactive album app has a number of touch screen user interfaces that allow the listener to manipulate the playback and sonic structure of the music. Listeners can modify the playback of a song for example to hear a stripped back acoustic version of the music, or maybe a more upbeat dance version if they wish. The interface is intelligent and seamless, so the user gets a smooth and unique experience depending on their mood. They can also mute the vocals and enjoy an instrumental version, or take away the drums and play along, or solo the piano so they can focus in and learn to play the song.
Magic is a leading inspiration for the London/Cambridge based singer-songwriter – real name Sarah Kayte Foster - who trained as an actress and previously topped the UK classical charts with the Mediaeval Baebes; ‘I like to create songs and visuals that have a sense of other worldliness about them; a dream like circus, a haunted house - something secret and intensified’.
Daisy and The Dark’s songs are emotive, lush and layered - ethereal vocals floating over strings, synths and harmonies. Introducing this as ‘a visual art project as much as it is a collection of songs’, Sarah has self-directed a dark and glittering music video for the title track; ‘It’s a strange story of love and light entering a dark world, an ode to the weird life-shattering immensity of falling in love…!.
For the app, Sarah oversaw twelve alternate versions of the four EP tracks saying ‘we wanted to create an experience where the digital listener feels like they have a visual and physical relationship with music again.’ The Red Planet app allows listeners to interact with the music by customising alternate mixes and exploring novel playback features, whilst accessing song lyrics, album artwork, credits and additional rich media content - in the same way the exploration of a vinyl or CD sleeve used to be an integral part of every first listen.
Most recently reviewed as ‘Somewhere between the ghostly gliding & luscious laments of Kate Bush, the boldness of Björk and the haunting image of Kylie floating in a lake after spending too much time with Nick Cave.’ (Backseat Mafia) this creative new artist is one to watch.
With Research and Design led by Dr Rob Toulson of Anglia Ruskin Universitys CoDE Research Institute, Justin Paterson at the London College of Music and Script (Music and Content) ,the interactive app includes unique features, which allow the listener to explore and effectively ‘remix’ the music as they listen.
Dr Rob Toulson explains: “We had two key objectives for the research and design; firstly, we wanted to find out if we could we develop a new commercial music format that the consumer would be excited about, meaning that we needed to create something unique, something that wasn’t already available to music fans through conventional platforms. Secondly we wanted to design a format that allows a music artist to connect more closely with their fans through recorded music. So we wanted to create something that allows fans to ‘get inside the music’ and to explore the building blocks of the songs and the broad creative vision of the artist.”
More details on the Red Planet album app can be found in the App User Guide webpage here: http://www.daisyandthedark.com/#!redplanetapp/c1qvm