INFINITE NORMAL track 4: “poor man’s version”

I’ve been obsessed with this idiom for a long time – the idea of cheap derivatives of an otherwise great thing, something (unfortunately) only made for the poor, but now increasingly seem to be the norm for everyone thanks to capitalist sprawl. This is wild to now consider in the context of generative AI, in which it’s easier than ever to make cheap passable “art” without the creative process even taking place.

“poor man’s version” is a musing on exactly that, from the perspective of an artist who wants to creatively express oneself, to be heard, to be remembered, but is increasingly feeling pressured to hustle and use the “affordable machinery” that take their expression out of the equation entirely. The artist just becomes a factory, maximizing their ability to produce, without the substance of what makes the art human (“all skill no tone / all skin no bones / i’ll never be alone”)

Musically, I wanted to convey that idea of a factory, which an artist can be reduced to in a capitalist society. I took a second stab at a slow creeping build (last heard in my cover of @6death_waits666 “empty me”) to really sink the listener into this feeling, slowly building electronic layers over a minimal piano and drumkit base. Most of the song festers in that space, outside of a piano/voice interlude: the artist’s voice desperately trying to get heard.

Listen: https://buff.ly/8gT4QCU