Duda, Mariusz: AFR AI D

Continuing on from his trio of electronic lockdown albums, Riverside and Lunatic Soul mainman Mariusz Duda now asks if we are AFR AI D? Yes, this is an instrumental album focused on one of the technological hot topics of the day - AI. For the record Mariusz isn’t afraid himself, he views AI as a tool be tamed, refined and added to our already bulging armour of everyday options for life. The questions he seems more interested in are whether en masse we will use these as tools for good and to further ourselves, or will the doom bringers and naysayers have their way and tame the tech before it can be the force for positive change it potentially could.

Stylistically similar to the three solo albums that this offering reasonably quickly follows, in terms of the theme, the music and ideology couldn’t be any more perfect for each other. Often by its very nature electronic music is sterile, unsettling, futuristic and alien - AI anyone? And Mariusz does an excellent job of tapping into these sentiments, with the opening duo of “Taming Nightmares� and “Good Morning Fearmongering� spartan and yet machine like in their construction. You can almost feel inhuman ‘life’ going about their pre-programmed routines as this soundtrack takes a peak into their purpose. With electronic, processed voices barbling over the top of the latter of those two tracks, the effect is heightened as mini-crescendos come, come and come again.

“Fake Me Deep, Murf� adds a more sinister air, guitar piercing the otherworldliness it’s surrounded by before “Bots Party�, while possessing a thumping beat, is more sedate than its name hinted that it might be. However, for me it’s the album closing (and longest) track “Embracing The Unknown� which really gets under the skin, with some more obvious melodies actually adding a more mechanical air. At times it’s almost an odd hybrid of Jean Michel Jarre undercurrents somehow blending with a beat and sound that Ozric Tentacles would then hang something much more spacey and ‘out there’ on.

AFR AI D is an interesting and accomplished album that certainly hits all of the marks it appears to have set out to. It’s not necessarily the sort of thing you’ll listen to every day - isolation and headphones heighten the experience hugely - but as a way to pose some questions and seek those answers, it is a rewarding journey.

Track Listing
1. Taming Nightmares
2. Good Morning Fearmongering
3. Fake Me Deep, Murf
4. Bots Party
5. I Love To Chat With You
6. Why So Serious Cassandra
7. Mid Journey To Freedom
8. Embracing The Unknown

Added: November 17th 2023
Reviewer: Steven Reid
Score:
Related Link: Mariusz Duda online
Hits: 536
Language: english

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