2019 top album release, for me, is Holly HerndonāsĀ āProtoā; and album that combines the primitive and cutting edge A.I technology ā in this song, Frontier, the initial harmonies are Sacred Harp singing, a type of singing that is common in so called primitive baptist churches, mainly in the southern USA. āSacred Harpā is really the name for the book of hymns that are used in the services, the style of singing is also calledĀ āshaped note singingā, due to the symbols indicating in which tone each word is ment to be sung; in fa, so, la or ti. The tones used are the mid range, in order to be as inclusive as possible for an untrained congregation ā it is truly a fascinating style of singing; but I digress... The singing we hear in this sing is humans singing into microphones connected to an A.I, namedĀ āSpawnā, and then we hear the A.Iās own interpretation of te sounds it has justĀ āheadā, and it then sings its own interpretation. According to Herndon the album is an collaboration between human and A.I,, and she creditsĀ āSpawnā as a participant in the creative process; however ā I feel that I should point out thatĀ āSpawnā is not a sentient A.I. We are not quite there yet ā but the ability of computers to mimic human composition is on the verge of being flawless...
Listen to the album on Spotify <āāā here Learn a tad more about Sacred Harp <āā here
