The Spiritual Machines Question AI on 'Lockhearted' LP

08-18-2024

(MPG) The Spiritual Machines, led by producer/musician Evan Frankfort, release new album Lockhearted, inspired by Ray Kurzweil and his prediction that computers would eventually develop souls. The band also shared an eye-popping video for "Cracks in the Silver Lining" directed by Connor Clarke about letting go of what keeps us chained and letting the light into our lives.
Listen to Lockhearted

Inspired by the aforementioned pioneer/futurist and his 1999 book The Age Of Spiritual Machines, Lockhearted takes Kurzweil's predictions and applies them to the era of AI. This provides a thematic throughline for the album, but the LP is far from a bleak statement on the horrors of the present and the anxieties of the future. Rather, it finds Frankfort looking inwards and taking stock of what's important in his life - family, connection and staying true to your belief systems and morals.

"It's a love letter to my family," says Frankfort about the LP. "If I were to die today, these were the things that I wanted to say. These are the issues that I wanted to talk about, and leave as food for thought."

First single "The Mirror and the Dancer" was lauded by Magnet Magazine who said it "finds its happy place in the gray area between prog rock and the more classicist '80s new wave of bands like Tears For Fears." Meanwhile, Glide Magazine praised "I'll Die Laughing" and said, "With syncopated rhythms and luminescent vocals, The Spiritual Machines present lush sounds with a nostalgically aware mission."

Over the years, Frankfort has worked with Liz Phair, Pete Yorn, Plain White T's, the Wallflowers, Warren Zevon and many other industry greats. Lockhearted in turn builds on Frankfort's sizable legacy in record production, film/TV scoring and electronic and experimental sound design as he wrote, produced and mixed all of the songs, as well as sang, played guitar, keyboards and bass. Future Aaron, a frequent collaborator of Frankfort's, shared vocal duties and played bass, while Craig Owens, known for composing countless TV themes including for Dance Moms and The Wendy Williams Show, was the primary keyboardist. French drummer Matt LeChavalier (ETHS & Headcharger, My Ruin, Full Blown Rose, Whiskey Falls) rounds out the quartet.

Lockhearted Tracklist
1. You Can't Hear Me
2. I'll Die Laughing
3. Castles Made of Sand
4. The Sinner Marches with the Saint
5. The Curse of the Skinned Knee
6. Lockhearted
7. The Mirror and the Dancer
8. Cracks in the Silver Lining
9. Sonder
10. No Memory
11. Hit The Ceiling