Another (Future Blues) Sunday by Sunset Temples

Artificial intelligence continues to proliferate all corners of the internet, media, and entertainment, and as music writers we consider not only its impact on music and the music industry, but on our cultural perception of music. My hope is that while AI inches towards omnipresence in production and songwriting, some thoughtful listeners will lend greater value to the human generative process. As a result, live music, especially improvised music, will become a more impactful experience as it provides a snapshot of artistic creation in real time. Furthermore, music that defies replication by abandoning discernable arrangements may hold a place of even greater reverence. For a peek into this imminent quasidystopian future, Another (Future Blues) Sunday by Sunset Temples dissolves all familiar structures with a single track of improvised noise. The collaborative process is on full display as three musicians play out-of-time and out-of-tune in an aidrectional procession. With no familiar riffs and no identifiable key signatures, there is no map for this sonic territory. The listener must join in on the direct experience with the artist, as together we participate in and explore the unfolding of a wholly new sonic landscape. Heavily distorted notes ring out accompanied by rumbling primitive basslines, marching forward at an increasingly frantic pace. As the chaos picks up, feedback shrieks over phantom kickdrum beats echoing so low they’re barely distinguishable in the mix. The tempo slows and even the stillness provides no relief, droning infrasound inducing a sense of uncomfortable tension. All angular and atonal, this Another (Future Blues) Sunday is a shrine to human imperfection, an increasingly precious resource from which we cannot look away. -Kalen