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electronica duo Son Lua joint project with a Canadian producer atlas acclaimed British vocalist Richard Walters Our next debut album delves into the evolution of AI technology and its impact on our everyday lives. Shapes In My Head –It gives us a glimpse of the futuristic concept they are trying to explore.
The pair, who plan to weave a complicated journey into the album, Kazuo Ishiguro bestselling novel clara and the sunchat with Earmilk about the influence of AI in music, the inspiration behind the single ‘Heights’, how the collaborative project came about, and further raise expectations for the album with the upcoming single ‘Never Learned’.
What inspired you to create a project based on Kazuo Ishiguro’s best-selling novel? clara and the sun?
Richard: I needed a lyrical starting point, so I think my head was a little squeezed to get into anything too confessional or personal. , seemed like we got the blueprint for an emotional story arc at just the right time. Turning on these weird AI blinkers made for an interesting starting point to explore human emotions from a different perspective.
How does this album balance the real-world impact of AI with Kazuo Ishiguro’s novels? Which was more influential and what was the process of creating the project like? mosquito?
Jeff: The final product is undoubtedly a complete piece that draws on those influences, but given the way I approached the production and composition process, I would say that my own influences were necessarily a bit broader. Technically, I can’t speak for Sun Lo, which is also a result of the pandemic. And, to put it bluntly, perhaps AI, or at least our relationship with AI, has been accelerated by the pandemic. Quarantined in our rooms and related to each other through screens and technology. Emotions, friendships, work, downtime – we were in a room alone, trying to keep something human from it all. Only technology is involved. To me, it’s AI and it’s as descriptive as a pandemic. My creative process is usually pretty self-analytical (at least in retrospect). I write what I’m feeling and going through – music journaling, therapy sessions, whatever.
Richard: I think the lyrics on the album are very much focused on AI emotions and the human element and replicating those emotions, rather than the technical side. No science to see here! I was quite fascinated by the idea of superintelligence, almost too clever, trying to find functional reasoning in the unpredictable and unknown things like love, fear, and death.
How did Sun Lo’s dreamy, beat-driven soundscape evolve from the futuristic theme of AI?
Jeff: I didn’t take responsibility for my creativity, overtly influenced by AI, but of course, alongside the pandemic and the ensuing deluge of “online lives” that the world has been crammed into, it’s inevitable. appear in music. I was moving out of my apartment in Toronto when I wrote this article. There were no vaccines under investigation yet. Everyone used to have friendships with (or through) computers, but I think the distinction is blurring by the minute.) I had experience in the live electronic/DJ space, but those spaces didn’t exist at the time. So listening has become more personal, more intimate, at home. It wasn’t loud with lights and a room full of drinks and strangers. It was lonely and contemplative. Efforts were made to make it feel more human than the dance/beat driven production. It felt like a way to hold onto something real and human in a time I’ve never lived before.
Richard: To me, Jeff’s ATTLAS record sounds like an incredibly unfinished sci-fi movie soundtrack, so it makes sense to tie this storyline to his beautiful, futuristic work.
How did the collaboration between ATTLAS and Richard Walters come about?
Jeff: Richard took the first leap of conversation, leading to sharing demos, stories about life and family, books and movies and songs. It had its pockets, but it was also unique enough to deserve to be pursued beyond a one-off collaboration. As we began to gather the project into a more cohesive place, it felt more appropriate to give the piece its own name – Sun Lo.
Richard: During lockdown someone sent me a link to the ATTLAS album ‘Out Here With You’. I am a huge fan and thanks to the magic of social his media, I am now able to forgive him. We ended up chatting and eventually emailing back and forth. In my opinion, making correspondence songs is one of the greatest things ever and everyone should try it.
Please tell us about your latest single “Heights” and the message behind it.
Jeff: On “Heights,” I felt the questions and answers were best left to the lyrical world of that track, so I went with Richard’s answer. On my creative side, Richard was the result of workshops creating demos and ideas on what he felt inspired, filling production and musical ideas around melodies and lyrical decisions. It’s a little less fun to say.
Richard: I started watching this record as a movie, and it felt like a gigantic scene, like the top of a big mountain, about 20 minutes into the credits. This is a song about human frailty, big emotionally and environmentally, and opens the door to an empathetic understanding of the destructive nature of humans.
What is your personal favorite song on the album and why?
Jeff: Shapes in my head. It’s the kind of music that I love and have wanted to write for a long time. Orchestral but meditative, understated but wide-ranging. The music itself was actually from a longer ambient album I wrote and recorded during the pandemic. Richard greatly elevated his work by giving the music story, character and human vulnerability. The title itself is taken from a song I wrote right after graduating from high school, so it’s a very complete circle for me: a part of myself from the past, the power of collaboration, and a theme born from a once-in-a-lifetime global change. I feel like
Richard: The title track was one of the first songs we separately worked on together. I love the instrumentation and the meditative vibe of this track and am very proud of the words and sentiment…it sums up the whole project beautifully for me.
Given how prevalent AI has become in art, culture, and music, what do you see as the role of AI in music? What does the future of AI-infused music look like?
Jeff: Optimistically, it’s a tool that makes the transition from idea to final product easier and faster. Prompts, code ideas, writing “what if I change this bit” can all happen rapidly. It will undoubtedly affect the promotion of the technical side of music, and perhaps the creative side as well. We are hundreds of years after Mozart and no one has yet done it “like Mozart”. Or Bill Evans, or Bob Dylan. AI will inevitably be able to replicate and create in similar ways, but for the same reason it’s like playing folk songs in a coffee shop, looking at your sister’s paintings in a small gallery, and eating grandma’s food more than grandma’s cooking. It’s for the same reason people support their culinary friends’ gigs. Music always has room for humanity, even in expensive restaurants. And when that emotion and human connection can somehow be replicated (or improved) by AI, the problem becomes much bigger than just the ethics of making and consuming music.
Richard: It’s amazing how quickly it has permeated our daily lives and made our tools accessible. I believe it should be respected and used judiciously, but it’s just one tool in the right hands. I don’t think creativity or artistry is lost. I truly believe it has the potential to push art and creativity forward.
How will AI help or improve music, and what do you think AI will take away from the creative process?
Jeff: I am first and foremost a music fan. I think the question depends on several factors. The AI won’t help or improve his Glenn Miller’s work, but it might be able to clean up old records. In the same way, the history of music is also the history of technology. The invention of the microphone, for example, changed the way singers could perform without being heard in front of a band or orchestra. Or the physical limitations of vinyl records that affect song length, frequencies that can and cannot be emphasized, changes in sales, artist and brand monetization.
In my own creative process it has minimal impact as a tool. You can imagine using help when you get stuck with melodies, voicings, and chord progressions, but there are still parts that need to be done manually. The view from the summit is the same whether you take the elevator or hike, but doing it yourself has many benefits for your body and mind. Using AI to tweak my mixes and come up with lots of remix options might help me hit my deadlines, but the deeper mental benefits of learning an instrument and learning theory is what makes me a better musician. what it takes to become you know what i mean? You can take Uber to the finish line of the race, but it doesn’t make you a better runner. In this case, I’m not interested in being the first to cross the finish line, but in being a better runner.
Richard: It’s the same with new tools and innovations. Lazy people use it lazily, and creative people adapt it around them and devise its position in their workflow.
What is a question that no one has asked that you would love to hear?
Jeff: Can you put music on this movie for us?
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