“After You” initially strikes as a strange techno track and the processed vocals like a vocoder making innocuous statements as a melodic note sequence blossoms accenting the rhythm. But even from the beginning there’s a dark undertone that makes you wonder when the shoe is going to drop on a piece of music that minus the lyrics could be the music you’d hear in the foyer of an electronics boutique in some near future space station. But the words point to an artificial intelligence that has awakened to its uses and abuses and awareness of its connection to our dependence on technology and ability to tap into and manipulate our inner selves. “I will take your soul, then I’ll see what’s next” is such a chilling line and also serves as a creative bit of social commentary about how we’ve already succumbed to algorithms and current, crude artificial intelligence manipulating our desires, our reactions to virtual social situations and even the stock market and the evil of reputation sites or, if you’re in China and other authoritarian societies, your reputation score designed to keep you in line. For such a pleasant foreground vibe, the background and clandestine content makes this apparently short and simple song a pointed examination of our relationship with technology and how it has come to warp our very consciousness. Listen to “After You” on Spotify, explore the rest of the Fever Dream album and follow Crackberry at the links below.
Queen City Sounds and Art 
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