The latest single from duo darkDARK, Ghost Complex, forms part of the high-concept sci-fi narrative that represented by the album of the same name.
Together, the darkDARK are duo Genevieve Vincent and Chris James, and on their forthcoming album they are imagining:
‘A post-apocalyptic world where, in a last ditch effort, humanity tasks two A.I. generated beings to download a sequential set of songs designed for them by the PETAL program (Planetary Escape Through Artificial Learning) with the intention of starting civilization over.’
Most of the songs are created by humans as fables, intended to tell their stories and teach ‘their human way of thinking and feeling’. This specific song, Ghost Complex, describes the experience of the AI beings, who view themselves as empty vessels, restricted to only mimicking the humanity that created them.
In contrast to Arcade, the darkDARK song I covered back in July, Ghost Complex has a delicate, angelic feel that suits the perspective it is written from. There is a metallic innocence to the song, which contrasts to the crunchy synths of Arcade. Where that song felt like a melding of person and machine, _Ghost Complex_feels purely robotic, an algorithm discovering humanity on its own. I find myself reflecting on Chris Cunningham’s haunting video for Björk’s All Is Full Of Love, a video that imbued a sense of a lonely soul in something that looked pure machine. As I imagine the being behind this song’s voice, I can’t help but think of Björk’s shiny, Apple iPod-like robotic form.
The gentle emotional drama here is beautiful, and created through the use of darkDARK’s deftly applied production and atmospherics. Genevieve’s vocal has a whispery lightness to it, and it contrasts with the sophisticated, crisp lines that surround it. Clean synths and slick bass reverberate with a mechanical sense of movements, as rhythms scroll past like lines of evolving code.