Holly Herndon - “Eternal”

SXSW 2020 - OEB Score: 9; Popularity Index: 8

Pairs Well With…Bjork, The Dirty Projectors, Yves Tumor

A sound truly outer-worldly, Holly Herndon’s fascinating 2019 record PROTO is like the sound of angels filtered through some futuristic factory from a robot’s dreams. Starting with forms fiercely organic and focused around eclectic vocal harmonies, Herndon then fed those sounds through AI programing and let whatever came out on the other side live free. While this could have been a train-wreck of distorted sounds in theory, PROTO sounds fluid and exciting, rhythms bursting with textured nuance and full-throated intensity. While pulsing and visceral, PROTO’s percussion also comes and goes at unexpected times, tightening and loosening with creative and weird precision. That sets the tone for the voices, either sounding slightly affected or fully computerized, whispers and screams intersecting at once in a wash of lyric and melody. Each track of PROTO occupies its own space as well, ranging from the tensely gleaming, rhythmless “Fear, Uncertainty, Doubt”, to the dark, dance-oriented sections that stand out on key single “Eternal”. Holly Herndon was set to perform a set titled “PROTO Immersive A/V” at SXSW which sounds like it could have been much more than a laptop set, so here’s hoping that idea sticks when live music returns back to the stage. (Kevin McStravick)