Brian Eno Is Alive and Well in My iPhone

The most entertaining iPhone app I’ve seen so far comes from Brian Eno and Peter Chilvers and is called “Bloom”.

Given the current events in the US (or global) economy, “Bloom” rescues me from continually listening to only chill-out music and Radiohead’s most apocalyptic songs.

Instead, “Bloom” allows me to anesthetize (or lobotomize) myself with a mini-Eno, embedded in my iPhone, happy to produce ambient music on demand or from my cue.

The screen is a fuzzy pastel color, varying with your mood (“Bergamot”, “Vetiver”, “Ylang”, “Banzoin” and others). You can choose to have it create music for you, or to give it some cues by tapping various parts of the screen. Tap out a few notes and it will play them back, looping them into a piece of ambient fuzz that could just as well be a song from "Music for Airports". You can freeze the melody from evolving if you like it, but there are no provisions for saving, recording or sharing it, which is just as well.

I was so enthralled with it after buying it that I lost track of time and was late to an appointment.

“Bloom” costs $3.99 and you can buy it through the iTunes Store. Here are screenshots of the preferences: