It's nearly 2018 and the robots are coming. Coming for our tunes.

This week saw the release of a historic collaboration between pop house vocalist Kiesza and SKYGGE, an artificial intelligence recording artist. Kiesza, who's been pretty quiet since 2014's "Hideaway", contributes vocals to an original track composed completely by a computer.

SKYGGE is the Danish word for Shadow, but also the first AI artist to release music on Spotify. The track called "Hello Shadow" is fairly run of the mill dance-pop fair, but what's remarkable about it is how normal it sounds.

"Hello Shadow" could easily be a track you've heard in an Uber on Capital.FM or blasting through your local River Island. If it was produced be a human it'd be completely unremarkable, but as it's been made by a computer, it's precisely this quality that makes it stand out.

If SKYGGE can make a completely passable pop track that wouldn't have you batting a eyelid, how soon before AI is the go to method of production across the board. How long before we have our first AI No.1 Record?

It's a weird, and to be honest, unsettling thought. It seems we're right on the cusp of the uncanny valley of music.

 

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