Experimental political pop artist Mary Ocher returns with a musical tour-de-force examining the collective dread of our impending future.
Experimental political pop artist Mary Ocher returns with a musical tour-de-force examining the collective dread of our impending future. The album is released alongside an essay (short version) on authoritarianism, and the various political and ethical implications of surveillance and artificial intelligence.
“Approaching Singularity: Music for The End of Time” is a stunning run through the history of experimental and electronic music, and exploration through minimalism, via field recordings, ambient, dub, cosmic music, psych folk, minimal synthesizer pieces, sound experiments and various uses of sampling techniques.
As an avid music collector, Mary enjoys curating albums like compilations, where each track sounds different – that’s also how she mainly listens to music these days, track by track. These recordings reveal further layers with each listen.
First single, Is Life Possible? borrows its title from Judith Butler’s “Undoing Gender” – and refers to the inequality in the value of different lives, the increased trust in technology, and accordingly, surveillance measures. Recorded together with Les Trucs, it’s released 8th September with the video directed by Mary, starring Mats Folkesson and Theo Taylor, the song references Judith Butler’s question “What lives are worth living?”
The album features pieces like Yellow Modulations (Triumph of The Mind over The Body) – On the decay and limitations of the biological body and body modifications, featuring a tweaked sound sample of a brain seizure. Cosmic Rock (feat. Your Government) – A little nod to the link between Krautrock and techno. Sonic Departures (for Delia) – A series of spoken instructions for the recordings of sound pieces atop electronic experimentation, dedicated to electronic music pioneer Delia Derbyshire.While Love is Not a Place was released early in 2023 with a music video, as part of Mary’s Ukraine charity EP “Power and Exclusion from Power”, which, like her last LP “The West Against The People”, and this album, came with an essay.
The album features collaborations with Barry Burns (Mogwai), synth-wizard turned-contemporary-composer Roberto Cacciapaglia, Red Axes, cyborgian art pop duo Les Trucs, alongside tracks with Mary’s two drummers Your Government, and AI artwork by promptographer Boris Eldagsen. The album was recorded and mixed with Microtonal artist Peder Simonsen and Mercury Award winning producer Mike Lindsay of Tunng and LUMP.
The album cover resembles iconic images of Alice in Wonderland. The image was taken inside of an art installation (courtesy of Plastique Fantastique). Additional images are AI “photographs” by Boris Eldagsen, whose prompt based art and conversations on it popped up everywhere in recent months.
artist Mary Ocher
title Approaching Singularity: Music for The End of Time
label Underground Institute
date 3rd November
format digital | vinyl
bandcamp | pre-save
Album Tracklist:
01 – Ghent Music School (field recording)
02 – Zone (A Tale of a Mourning Mother) (with Barry Burns) – 13 October
03 – Pulse (feat Your Government)
04 – Love Is Not A Place (feat Your Government) – out now
05 – Invisible Music (interlude)
06 – Cosmic Rock (feat Your Government)
07 – Post Everything – 17 November
08 – Approaching Singularity (with Roberto Cacciapaglia) – 22 Sept
09 – He Is Here! (Interlude)
10 – Yellow Modulations (Triumph of The Mind over The Body)
11 – Is Life Possible (with Les Trucs) – 8 September
12 – Sonic Departures (For Delia)
13 – Dioramas (interlude)
14 – The Whip (with Red Axes) (album edit) – 1 December (extended version release)