Holly Herndon collaborates with AI ‘baby’ Spawn on new album Proto

Holly Herndon has announced her AI-assisted album Proto, and shared a video for the new single Eternal.

The composer and performer is set to release her third studio album, Proto, on 10 May via 4AD. It’ll serve as the follow-up to 2015’s Platform. According to the press release, much of the upcoming LP has been created in collaboration with her AI ‘baby’ called Spawn, who also featured on her collaborative track with Jlin last year, entitled Godmother (feat. Spawn). The inhuman intelligence has been developed by longtime collaborator Matt Dryhurst and Jules LaPlace.

Teaming up with a group of vocalists and developers, Herndon has used Spawn to reinterpret and identify unfamiliar sounds. “There’s a pervasive narrative of technology as dehumanising,” Herdon says. “We stand in contrast to that. It’s not like we want to run away; we’re very much running towards it, but on our terms.”

“Choosing to work with an ensemble of humans is part of our protocol. I don’t want to live in a world in which humans are automated off stage. I want an AI to be raised to appreciate and interact with that beauty.”

Furthermore, Herndon has released a new video for the ghostly single Eternal. It features footage processed from AI, which analysed and searched for faces within the visual. Watch it via the player above.

You can pre-order Proto here. Check out the new tracklist and artwork below.

Holly Herndon Proto

Tracklist
1. Birth
2. Alienation
3. Canaan (Live Training)
4. Eternal
5. Crawler
6. Extreme Love (with Lily Anna Hayes and Jenna Sutela)
7. Frontier
8. Fear, Uncertainty, Doubt
9. SWIM
10. Evening Shades (Live Training)
11. Bridge (with Martine Syms)
12. Godmother (with Jlin)
13. Last Gasp