If you wanted to write an album for the times, a concept epic about a rogue AI gaining sentience and trying to join humanity would certainly be near the top of the list – but when UNLEASH THE ARCHERS were doing those initial story drafts, nobody was talking much about it. Now we live in a world where “generative AI” has entered somewhat regular use and the phrases artificial intelligence or machine learning have become buzzwords companies love to throw around about their latest tech. New album Phantoma has a lot to say about that – so we made sure to ask all about it when we caught up with vocalist Brittney Slayes.
Unfortunately, when they unveiled the record with lead single Green & Glass, the reaction wasn’t what they expected – the video utilises a generative AI model, trained solely on licensed works and it ignited a veritable shitstorm around them. “It wasn’t the greatest start,” is the wry summary Slayes gives of the anger directed the band’s way. She’s keen to correct the record, too; the video itself was in fact filmed, with Slayes playing the titular AI Phantoma and the band all acting in the video. They then licensed art from Bo Bradshaw – who does a lot of their merch designs – to train an AI model that painted the end result after a film studio (RuneGate) animated it in Unreal Engine.
The only other use of AI on the album is a couple of phrases Slayes pinched from ChatGPT; she folded those into lyrics she was already working on. Every other aspect of the album is painstakingly created by hand, and there’s a clear exasperation that people assumed the worst simply because they wanted to utilise AI, in a concept album that centres entirely on AI. “We didn’t realise there were people so passionately against it,” she explains. “We never thought of it as something to fight against – we just thought it was a fun thing to throw in at the end.”
In fact, none of the consumer generative AI tools out there now (Midjourney, ChatGPT, etc) existed when they were storyboarding the album back during the pandemic. “I’m talking Terminator,” she laughs, “Star Wars, Star Trek, aliens, all the cool android stuff out there!” It’s a topic she’s always wanted to address, and in the midst of the pandemic while they were searching for a concept for the new album – it came to her.
One of the big themes, a big realisation Phantoma has is what and who she is, but wants to be more than that; “we’re going to struggle a lot with that as technology gets better. We’re afraid of what we don’t understand,” Slayes opines. “The reaction humanity has is to laugh… she’s just a tool to them.” Whether we ever get to the point AI can think, feel and reason for itself is anyone’s guess, but it makes a compelling tale to weave across the album’s ten songs and also plays into the album’s other conceptual pillar.
“I was writing the story in early 2021,” Slayes begins, “we weren’t touring and the world was an absolute mess. There were riots, governments against one another. So much of what humanity does best, which is divide and destroy.” The darkness that was around her at the time, that she felt about the state of humanity, is something Phantoma sees in her journey, but not until later. Humanity has created AI to do its most menial tasks and freed up their own time for creative pursuits – something she’s actively keen on, giving people the opportunities to flourish as creatives without fear.
But there’s a darkness beneath; “she’s only seeing the best that gets put out there, she becomes a better human by trying to embody the best parts of us. But when she meets humans she realises they’re selfish, apathetic beings. It destroys everything she’s believed up until that point, and it’s a dark moment of revelation.” The idea of only putting our best selves out for the world to see has real world parallels – as all great sci-fi is, it’s informed by a real problem now. For Slayes, that’s the hyper-curated world of social media.
“We’re creating this unreal expectation, especially to young kids who aren’t as exposed to the world as we are. They live in these social media bubbles, so that’s all they see and know. They think this is life when it’s just a small portion and everyone only posts the good stuff.” Phantoma sees all this, just as Slayes looks at the world people live in now, particularly when we were all cooped up inside for years, and asks the question – why are we like this? Why can’t we just be ourselves? Take the stadium rock, balladeering Give It Up Or Give It All, where Phantoma asks herself this.
That moment is a warning, one underneath the darkness, but ultimately has a hopeful message. “It’s hope for the future, while not ignoring what we’ve done,” and ultimately the decision, backed by a show-stopping chorus, is taken to keep fighting and try to be more human. Again, Slayes wants listeners to take something else from this; the second layer of meaning is all about pursuing dreams. “It’s a reflection of every person’s choice to maybe do something that pays bills but isn’t your passion, or taking the leap, to say I have trust in myself that the future can be something better.”
As they now know, some people aren’t necessarily open to having that conversation simply because the band made one creative choice they dislike; but that does Phantoma and everything UNLEASH THE ARCHERS have created here a great disservice. Chock full of exciting guitar leads, a star turn from Slayes vocally and ostentatious synths, Phantoma is rooted in their past but, just like its subject, takes an exciting step into the future, resolutely forging their own path in spite of any pressure to live up to the high expectations after the stellar Apex and Abyss album cycles.
“You always want your next record to be the best you’ve done, but you also can’t let that be your frame of mind when you write,” she begins. “The moment you start writing for other people is the moment it loses that personal touch, that emotion, and feeds into the monster that is consumerism in music these days.” It ties into her own approach to social media, and one she takes to heart with the band. “I never read comments. Never. It’s the absolute worst place you can go as a creative person, because you pour your heart and soul into your work and then you’re just waiting for one person to spout off an opinion they haven’t spent one second thinking about.”
If there’s a particular message to take from the online shitstorm that surrounded Phantoma and almost derailed the album before people could even hear its message, as well as the whole album itself, it’s an almost offhand remark Slayes makes. “If you perpetuate hate and negativity, it’s not a good place to live. Choose happiness, choose to be kind, choose to live in a world that has a little bit of light in it.”
Phantoma is out now via Napalm Records.
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