Emerging from stasis, Beautiful Machines are about to start their chapter. ‘Singularity’ is an album, but it’s also an experience; a continually updating project that spans music, visuals, and performance, an act of synthesis that blends technology with art, the digital with the humane. “We want to create a different type of experience,” explains Conrad, the co-pilot of this starship. On one level, it’s sparkling synth pop, in line with everyone from Giorgio Moroder to The Human League, Nine Inch Nails to Robyn. On another, it’s a total art experience, inspired by interstellar wanderings through the cosmic realms of Kraftwerk, ad Isaac Asimov. “There’s levels of philosophical questioning and insight,” muses Stef, his co-commander; “but then there’s just fun, thrill-seeking, popcorn levels of ridiculous.”
‘Singularity’ both reflects and subverts our new reality. On one level it’s a deadly serious gesamtkunstwerk – the German word for ‘total art’, a truly multi-disciplinary experience that moves from expertly tailored live shows to dazzling visuals that cross-reference JG Ballard’s hyper-anxious visions of the future with the immersion of Netflix anthology Love, Death and Robots. Yet it’s also pure enjoyment – the sound of two spirits in line with one another. As Stef puts it: “We want to keep ourselves outside our comfort zone.”