Consequence of Sound has a piece about the Lost Tapes of the 27 Club project which uses Google’s artificial intelligence program, Magenta, to create songs in the styles of musicians who died at the age of 27. One of the songs composed by the software is a fake Nirvana song, called “Drowned in the Sun.”
With opening guitars starting out restrained before reaching a crescendo on the chorus, the track is reminiscent of Nirvana’s signature hit, “Come as You Are”. Its chorus sounds like something Cobain might have written, too, with lyrics like, “I don’t care/ I feel as one, drowned in the sun.”
As explained in a Rolling Stone feature, Google’s AI program Magenta was used to analyze the pioneering grunge band’s music and create the instrumental track. An artificial neural network was then used to generate the lyrics, while the vocals were recorded by Eric Hogan, front man of an Atlanta Nirvana tribute band.
I don’t know. I don’t think this is going to fool anyone. Yet. But imagine when this tech gets better, combined with deep fake videos and 3D projections, and record companies will be able to milk artists long after they’re dead.
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