Creating something progressive often requires complicated ideas explained in a way that feels both versatile and beautiful at the same time. POMEGRANATE TIGER returns to us with the next album, All Input is an Error , a stunning record that plays with time, ideas around AI and how art can be created. We spoke with central member and multi-instrumentalist Martin Andrés about the record.
There is an immediate appeal to thinking about the future, and the music that POMEGRANATE TIGER has created has a very focused idea at its heart. “ All input is a mistake is what humanity and civilization will experience in the next decade and is just trying to create some awareness for the idea,” he sums it up. However, the concepts and ideas themselves are far from simple. There are huge implications for the “what if?” that’s part of thinking about AI.
‘People have no idea what’s coming’ Andrés continues to explain. “Experts claim that AI is a more powerful technology and weapon system than the internet or a nuclear bomb ever was. We read these things and know them to be true at this point, but what does it really mean to us? Any opinion or advice a human ever gives to a robot or AI system will one day be completely meaningless. Any human input will one day be a mistake in advancing any technology. It’s called the singularity. Theoretical physicists and leaders in technological innovation seem to be racing towards the same destination, wherever that may be. Where will that departure be? These are the reasons I believe All Entry is an Error as an album title will only become more relevant as time goes on.”
Likewise, we can’t predict the future of AI, POMEGRANATE TIGER I also couldn’t count on what this latest release would be when it started. “ AIIE became a ridiculous evolution of sound that could not have been predicted in any way before the writing process began,” he tells us. “The original idea was to make an EP using only classical, acoustic and hybrid guitars, without distortion. A focus on clean guitars, melody and harmony was the main original motivation behind the writing. Four years later AIIE is nowhere near a three-song prog ‘acoustic’ album. As the music progressed and evolved in the following years, there was much more to say and discover musically than just three ‘acoustic’ songs. It has become quite a mouthful, I would say.”
There is a certain atmosphere and feeling in POMEGRANATE TIGER that has a very emotional edge. Although predominantly instrumental, All Input is a Mistake And POMEGRANATE TIGER ‘s back catalog generally plays with perceptions of musical narratives through the use of time signatures and complex melodies. “You reminded me of a quote I recently fell in love with,” says Andrés . “’A painter paints images on canvas, but musicians paint their images on silence and time itself.’ How cool is that? A musician’s canvas is time itself. (this is as a) modified Leopold Stokowski quote. With this record the intention was definitely more to tell ten different stories all tied into the idea of All Input is an Error all while decorating 45 minutes of time with interesting sounds. I want listeners to be delighted and taken on a sonic journey that maximizes replay value. That said, there was also a tremendous amount of personal satisfaction in creating the music itself. Very little of it was inspired by rock or metal music.
As the record is incredibly lush with its progressive approach to heavily regulated timing, but beautiful in its execution, there is something to be said about art as a concept for this album. Moreover, AI art is something that is touched from within POMEGRANATE TIGER ‘s work here begs the question, is there room for music to be both mathematical and creative?
“So I think mathematics itself can be art,” Andrés considers. “Think of all the scientific discoveries humanity has made over generations. All technological innovations first started with a nerd playing with some numbers because they just loved math and were curious about the world. So mathematics can literally be synonymous with exploration and discovery. They can go hand in hand if necessary. While I wouldn’t say I explicitly think about the collaboration or even juxtaposition of beauty and technology, I do love both of those things separately. It is important that the listener can feel drawn back by beauty, but also by technical rhythms. I want the music to evoke strong emotional responses and I think the best way forward is to pay a lot of attention to very detailed craftsmanship. God is in the details.”
There are a number of years between the POMEGRANATE TIGER records, and it’s interesting to hear how the music has filtered into a concentrated form that feels the benefit of experience and is all the more polished for it. “I have more tools to choose from and they have all been further refined,” Andrés agrees. “I now have the confidence to say that I can be more conscious about the use of all these tools and the way they are used together. Even though the album is a mouthful, if I decide I like vanilla now, I’m fine with that song having that flavor. It doesn’t have to be chocolate and cookies and cream and every other flavor too. Vanilla has its purpose, and it is great at what it does, and nothing else does vanilla as well…vanilla.”
All Input Is Error is now out independently.
For more information about POMEGRANATE TIGER, check out their official page on Facebook .
