HOLLY HERNDON
It’s not really doing down other computer-based musicians to suggest that Berlin-based, Tennessee-born Holly Herndon is a computer musician par excellence. With a CV to make you weep, this respected Stanford academic of all things musical probably didn’t need to bother topping it off by making one of the most critically lauded, technically complex – and somehow deeply human – albums of the past few years. But she went ahead and did it anyway.
Herndon is quick to point out that her most recent album, Proto, is actually the work of a ragtag cast of characters akin to something out of a sci-fi novel: chiefly herself, collaborators Mat Dryhurst, AI expert Jules LaPlace… and a personified AI programme named Spawn, aka a DIY, neural network-based piece of software housed in a “souped-up gaming PC”.
In fact Proto’s background is so rich – and endlessly fascinating – that we concur that it fully deserved its own podcast. We caught up with Herndon mid-lockdown to hear more…
cm: Firstly, given the circumstances, how are you doing?
HH: “Well, I’m used to working from home, in Berlin, but of course our entire concert season has been obliterated which is very sad.”
cm: Has it affected other plans too?
HH: “It’s been majorly disruptive. Any plans to go anywhere and do site-specific work. But like I say, I’m fortunate enough to be able to accomplish a lot from my studio. My partner and I have actually been wanting to start a podcast for a long time [the first few episodes, out now, are available on Patreon]. Because so much of what we do is research-based, the album is just one piece of a much bigger project – the music industry-facing side. Conversations are sometimes the best way. We were always travelling too much to put it together. This has forced us into doing something we’ve been wanting to do a long time. So it’s a silver lining!”
There is definitely so much extra to be said about what you do behind the scenes!
“It’s really hard with music because it’s an abstract language.
