She’s worn a swan to the Oscars, sung before a global audience of four billion at the opening of the 2004 Olympics in Greece, and is Iceland’s best-known cultural export, yet Björk’s seventh album Biophilia is undoubtedly her most ambitious move yet.

The result of three years’ work, it is not just another album but a ground-breaking multimedia project encompassing music, internet installations, iPad apps and live shows.

Already available for free on iTunes, the “mother” app opens with the dulcet tones of David Attenborough explaining the concept and houses individual apps for each of the 10 tracks.

Inspired by the relationship between musical structures and natural phenomena, the apps for the four tracks released so far – including the beautiful Cosmogony about the beginning of the universe – let users watch the music scores and lyric sheets in graphic form, create their own original music and play highly addictive games.

Originally due for release this week, the launch of her full album (including the six as yet unreleased tracks) has been delayed until 10 October as Björk felt the project needed a little bit extra work. “The CD needed more blood and muscles, oxygen and stuff,” she said. It will be worth the wait.

The Björk: Biophilia app is available free on iTunes now. Songs cost £1.45 each.

Bjork's innovative new app