Kurt Cobain may have passed away years ago, but his 'teen spirit' lives on - more literally now than ever. An organization has composed and created a new Nirvana song using Artificial Intelligence software, attempting to approximate the lyrics and music of the piece created in the band's heyday - and for all intents and purposes, it sounds like it did.
From the guitar riffs to the lyrics and chorus, everything reminds listeners of Kurt Cobain’s work, even though, according to creators, everything apart from the vocals are the work of the software.
Vocals on the song are the work of Nirvana tribute band frontman Eric Hogan. Through the tune, the creators wish to increase awareness around depression, suicide, and other mental illnesses, and mourn the tragic death of Cobain.
The tune begins with a grungy riff reminiscent of "Come As You Are," and it leads on with the intensity. The energy constantly builds up laden with heavy guitar in typical Nirvana style.
By the end, it drops to a mellowed repetition of the phrase, "drowned in the sun."
The song titled "Drowned in the Sun" is a part of the project titled Lost Tapes of the 27 Club. This project includes tunes or songs created completely by machines, replicating the styles of musicians who died tragically young.
The organization behind this fascinating project is called Over the Bridge, a Toronto-based venture helping people from the music industry deal with mental illnesses.
To create the Nirvana song, the people at Over The Bridge enlisted Google’s AI program Magenta, which can learn how to replicate an artist’s style by analyzing other work.
The software analyzes about 30 songs of each artist, analyzing vocal melodies, chord changes, guitar riffs and solos, drum patterns, and lyrics, in order to decipher what new compositions might possibly sound like.
Sony and the electro-pop group Yacht have also used this AI software to create a "new" Beatles song and write a "new" album, respectively.
Over the Bridge’s intention through this is to raise awareness about mental health issues amongst people working in the music industry. The organization runs a successful Facebook page and also offers workshops, zoom sessions to educate and help artists.
Michael Scriven, a representative of the board of directors at Over The Bridge, also mentions that he hopes it raises awareness about how much work goes into creating AI music. "There’s an inordinate amount of human hands at the beginning, middle and end to create something like this,” he says.
"A lot of people may think [AI] is going to replace musicians at some point, but at this point, the number of humans that are required just to get to a point where a song is listenable is actually quite significant."
It might be convenient to say that AI created the song, as per sources, a human element is constantly required to create a presentable tune. There will no doubt be great advancements in this field of music-making as time progresses.