“Almost Human” is a more clever title than is immediately obvious for Celsey McFadden’s single. The composer used avant-garde electronic music artist/technologist/performance artist Holly Herndon’s AI voice model app Holly+ to introduce the analog of the sound of her voice into the track and processed violins and other aspects of the song through the app as well giving the song an unusual quality that’s hard to pin down. McFadden compares it to the way DeepFake technology functions except instead of nefarious ends his are to expand the horizons of creative possibility. The strong rhythmic elements have it sounding like some futuristic Indonesian pop as they sync together with a touch of Middle Eastern flavor. And the tones come off like cybernetic insects having an improv session and resonating unconventional tonalities and textural sounds to give the whole a simultaneously alien and familiar feel. Listen to “Almost Human” on Soundcloud and connect with McFadden at the links below.
Queen City Sounds and Art 
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