A wonderful dose of accidental destiny happened in the process of making Organic Machine, the third full-length album from Talking with Hands - songwriter Matthew Smith created a treatise on the value of the human creative process.
Ostensibly, the album was intended to be a pair of EP’s pondering the implications of Artificial Intelligence on the creative landscape and the impossibilities of the music business, particularly as we hurdle towards a future of devalued compositions. However, in allowing himself to embrace an “anything goes” approach to the sonic landscape, Smith crafted a single cohesive album that yearns for recognition (“#1 Record”) while equally affirming that the act of creation is a compulsion, not a conduit to a prize (“Unprofessional Artist”). These decidedly homo sapien ideas appear throughout the album, as Smith ponders creativity itself (“King of Hands”), the scarcity of time (“Nothing is Forever”) and the feedback loop of interacting with technology (“Everything Is Better”).
Organic Machine weaves together buzzing guitars, delightful sampling flourishes, hyper processed vocals and, occasionally, multiple narrators. These compositions serve as a nod to the massive, diverse, source material that a generative AI draws from but, moreso, serve as an introspection of the value of the creative process.
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Photos by TJ Masters