An online collaboration between Arcade Fire and Google was launched today, with both working on the Chrome Experience, an HTML 5-based, multi-window browser experience designed to show off the capabilities of the emerging HTML 5 standard.
The “experience” begins using multiple browser windows, with a tune called “We Used To Wait” playing in the background. It uses a viewer’s childhood address, and allows the viewer to write a letter to their younger self. Some have likened it to a “music video for the web.” The medium used for the experience is the web browser, and the app shows off the potential of HTML 5 to engage the user with interactive, multi-paned viewing.
Speaking about the project, Google Creative Lab tech lead and co-creator of the project Aaron Koblin stated “The project came about one day when [director] Chris Milk and I were talking about Chrome Experiments and what can be achieved through a modern web browser and with the power of HTML5 technology.”