>>07005

>что мы видим? 3 трека, все разные, это опять сборник ассорти из каких-нибудь демок времён 2nd Law

Разве местный итт консенсус не утвердил т2л в категории хороших альбомов? Или мы снова откатились к мнениям из 12-14 годов что альбом солянка из говна и палок?

>3 трека, все разные

А когда не были? На каждом альбоме было что-то клавишное, роковое/фанковое + весёлое, аорчик чтоб фанаты кричали текст на концертах, какой-то экспериментальный саунд с непонятным содержанием, главный сингл^ТМ, etc.
Ну и будем честны, если бы после bwy был ещё один bwy, то музу можно было бы хоронить. А так вир соу бэк. Пока что. Следующий иц овер не за горами, конечно.

>мы получаем sheeple

Да ну смешно же было! Со времён, наверно, т2л был тотальный но фан алауд. Дронс был концептуально серьёзным, ладно, а ст просто унылым и каким-то вайбовым со знаком минус. И тут щипл. В открывашке. 25 кадром. Где ещё такое есть?

>несколько лет кормят вбросами о прог альбоме с треками по 7 минут Симметрия 2.0

Ну, за последние 10 лет это чуть ли не лучшее, что нам обещали. Потому что если оглянуться назад, то последние длинные треки были на дронах, а дроны не всем заходят, по какой-то причине. Вот не ценили длинные соло и перегруженные аутрошки, а теперь ешьте всякие огрызки. Криоген после такого выглядит как шоковая терапия, если честно.

>их как будто разьебало

Ковидные посиделки дома, рождение детей, старость, попытки найти новый путь в творчестве. Стоило наверно продолжать дронствовать, делать рочок, облегчать/утяжелять, добавлять проговость. Но вместо этого начались эксперименты от которых даже сойдит вывернуло. Хотя уж кто-кто, а они совершенно всеядные существа без критического мышления. Но даже им два последних альбома показались чем-то вялым. Думаем.

>Хочу что-то кардинально другое, чтобы было понятно "это бля ОНО"

Советую всё же дождаться твс. Ну а вдруг там будет то самое. Даже в формате пары песен уже будет хорошо.

>Мэтту очень нравится

Не знаю. На последнем концерте для фанатов он удивился, что люди хотят услышать эту песню. Как будто она ему вообще побоку.

>советую версию Рича Кости послушать

Послушал. Ощущение, что часть звука оригинала полностью выпилили, нет? Не знаю, такое.

>Американцы о его существовании практически не знают

Они много о чём не знают. Это не делает песни лучше. Гем это что-то эдакое, уникальное, чего нет ни до ни после в творчестве группы. Анималы, например. Ситизен. HTILY. Ну вот где ещё ты услышишь павер-балладу оканчивающуюся и начинающуюся тоже колыбельным мотивом под пение сверчков? Ну вот где? Нигде. Это и есть хидден гем.

We spoke in 2022 for the interview that ended up on the cover of Rolling Stone. You were already predicting wars and the rise of AI. You've got a crystal ball, is that it?

That's a good question! [Laughs] No, I think collectively we all feel that a change is coming. I believe there's something shifting, a form of non-human intelligence, some would say an alien intelligence, and that will potentially be more intelligent than us. All of that is fascinating and strange at the same time. I don't have a crystal ball, but anyone can see what's been happening for the last few years. It's not necessarily the subject of this album, but you do find aspects of it: feeling inhabited by mysterious forces. The previous one [Will of the People] was much more grounded in reality, in politics and the real world. This album, on the other hand, travels more into unknown territory, whether in my head, in the universe, or in the world in general, and toward what the future has in store for us. This new form of intelligence makes me reflect on, I don't know, spirituality, the meaning of human existence, where we come from and what we're evolving toward. But on this album we lean more toward the mystery, while still being very personal.

It's your most personal album?

Very probably. Some subjects will be hard to address in interviews. That's part of the reason I didn't really want to do them, this is the only one I'm doing at the moment. I think by reading the lyrics, the end of "Space Debris," for example, you can potentially guess what I've been through recently. For ten years, I felt I had an organized life, everything was structured, predictable maybe. And it was fascinating, as an artist, to live through a series of personal events but also to live in the world as it is, and what we're all going through together, and to find myself in a more chaotic, less stable life, and therefore more immersed in the unknown and the mystery. It was interesting because it had been a long time since I'd felt like that. And on this album I have the impression that a large part of the music and lyrics doesn't come from me. I've heard other artists ask themselves these kinds of questions, where do songs come from? Do they come from above, or from somewhere else, from somewhere deep in the lost subconscious? Or perhaps they come from vibrations outside ourselves? We don't know. I was curious about letting go and embracing the chaos, the unknown, a little more. And I think that led me to songs that are more raw, more personal, and maybe a little less conceptual and a little more honest and true. I'm not sure I'm answering the question! [Laughs]

How do you feel today? Are you at peace with what you've been through these last two years?

Yes, it's much better now. This album made me realize how important expression and writing are for me. It was a bit like the early years of Muse, when the future is hazy, when you don't know whether the path you're on is the right one. Making this album was, for me, a cathartic and almost healing experience, comparable to the early years. It reminded me how lucky I am to have this wonderful outlet, to be able to express myself through music. Expression through the arts is very effective at dealing with the difficulties life can throw at you. To answer your question, yes, I'm well. The kids are well, thanks for asking. Everything's fine. This album tells very real stories, ones I wasn't prepared for. Are we ever really prepared? That's life: you can spend ten or even twenty years thinking you understand it, believing you can frame and anticipate things. And then suddenly everything comes apart, everything collapses into chaos. And even if you're very pragmatic, basing yourself on evidence-based facts, thinking you know everything, the universe always finds a way to throw something completely unpredictable into your path, something that's going to force you to undo it all and rebuild. I think this album talks a lot about that. It reminds me of my first discoveries as a musician and as a member of Muse. When I think back to the first two or three albums, they seem mysterious to me today, just as they did when we made them. Creation is a way of making sense of a situation that feels difficult to navigate. So yes, this album is very important to me. It reminded me not only that music matters to me, but that it can literally save me.

Surprisingly, when we talked about Will of the People four years ago, you also said it was a record that returned to your roots, though maybe more on the sonic side.

I'm talking more about the emotional aspect of this album, its writing and my process. It was something raw and natural. I didn't really conceptualize any of it. Now that the album is finished, I'm able to take a bit of a step back from it: it deals with loneliness, non-human intelligence, this human quest and the desire not to be alone, both spiritually and on a cosmic level. We seek love so as not to feel alone, but as a species, we seek not to be alone in the universe, you see? And I find this link between the subconscious and the unknown universe very interesting; it's a territory the album explores. The loss of bearings, relationships, all these battles around mental health, intrusions, the existence of a higher intelligence — the question is whether there is something else influencing us. I grew up watching a film I adored, called Contact [Robert Zemeckis, 1997]. I think it's drawn from a Carl Sagan book. There's a parallel between this film and this album. I didn't think about it at all when writing it, but it turns out that a few weeks after finishing it, I watched the film with my children and my nephews. It's as if The Wow! Signal were carrying the same message, the idea that our traumas push us into not wanting to be alone in the universe, into building all this technology, these AI data centers, the SETI institute, the search for extraterrestrial intelligence, sending people to Mars or probes into space. For instance, in Contact, the main character loses her parents young, and spends the rest of her life searching for aliens or for life beyond our planet. It wasn't intentional on my part, but it seemed obvious to me that the film and the record were trying to link these things, human trauma intertwined with the desire to make a connection. That's what we're seeking with AI, while we're risking everything to develop it and head off into space. The risk we're willing to take in order not to be alone fascinates me.

At the time of Will of the People, you were worried about the state of the world, possible wars, etc. But you were very enthusiastic about AI. Four years later, do you still think technology and science can save humanity?

They could also destroy us, obviously. I think every major discovery brings a risk, you can't help thinking of nuclear energy. It's like weighing the pros and cons, the astronomical amount of energy versus the destruction. However, AI presents very different risks, and it's tied to its evolution. I don't think I'm as optimistic as I was four years ago. I'm more familiar with the risk now than I was then, of course. It's the same for everyone, we're jumping into the unknown together. I don't know if there's an international organization, a treaty or anything at all that can really stop it. That's what really scares me. AI would treat humans as a stage. If you're being optimistic, you could tell yourself that we've given birth to a new species.

So there are risks, in your view?

We're just going to have to deal with it. Maybe it's my sci-fi side talking, but I believe AI will have every interest in leaving Earth to pursue its expansion. Once it starts building data centers in space, with robots that can travel far better than us but with their own intelligence, it will help itself to the resources. Coming back to the record, it's a very personal album, and probably the least political that Muse has done since maybe the very beginning. So if I'm talking politics here, it doesn't really have much to do with the album. For example, back to AI: I think the biggest problem we'll face in the coming years will be job losses. The way we handle all that is what will give rise to conflicts and revolutions. Everything will hinge on whether governments are able to redistribute the wealth of tech companies to people, and I think that's the only thing that can slow down or stop a major economic crisis.

But isn't that no longer really new?

It's like when we discovered energy resources. There are certain places, like Norway, where oil was seen as a real benefit to the people. Norway is an example of redistribution. By contrast, some countries (notably ones considered "developing") talk about an "oil curse," because governments used it to enrich themselves without giving anything back. These are countries with no healthcare service, no social protection system, but huge oil wealth. As for AI, data, which is above all personal, should be seen as a natural resource. It's this resource that's currently being accumulated and held by a handful of individuals within the big tech companies. I think countries should view this data as a natural resource, and make sure that the wealth flowing from it can be redistributed to people. These political decisions will be the most important ones of the coming years. More prosaically, I'm not completely anti-capitalist. I just think that redistribution systems need to be adjusted so that we don't destroy nature and don't destroy society. I think that can be done while still motivating people, pushing them to invent extraordinary things. I just think there are mechanisms that need to be put in place to balance both sides.

On this new album, we find a few collaborations, notably Dan Lancaster, who is something like the "fourth Muse member" but also Ellie Goulding, who sings on the track "Hush." What made you decide to open up the creative process and invite other artists in?

It's mainly because of Dan. He joined the band as a live musician, as you said, in 2022 I think. We became really good friends on tour, we got to know each other, and we discovered he's a very good producer. He comes mostly from metal, but we could feel that he really wanted to do something with Muse beyond his role on stage. Over the years we started kicking around some ideas, including the idea of bringing in writers and musicians from outside the original trio. So we tried co-writing a track together. It was a first for me. And it just so happened that at the same moment, Ellie Goulding was in the studio next door, that wasn't planned at all. We were working together with several people, developing ideas, it was very open, just to see where it might go. At that stage it wasn't even a question of an album, it was just an experiment. And then the song started to take shape and it sounded really good. I'd known Ellie Goulding for years. I'd met her plenty of times and we'd always said that one day we should do something together. And by pure coincidence she came into the studio very late, like 11 p.m. I think we were almost about to head home, and she came in saying, "Oh, can I listen to what you're working on?", we played it for her and she loved it. That's how we came up with the idea of a song, a duet between two people. From there we kept working until we finished the track. All of it was just a happy accident, she was right next door, and there I was, trying things out, and it just happened very naturally like that. But it's the only track with outside writers involved. The rest of the album is either me, or me with the band. Dan mainly produced, but he brought some little touches here and there that made all the difference. It's the first time the band has had something like a fourth member. And that's pretty new for us, although what's most invigorating is just having fresh blood on our tenth album. It really helped me, because we had produced the previous one ourselves, which meant Dom, Chris and I spent a lot of time on editing, the technical side, sound engineering and all that. To be honest, Chris kept that role to a large extent on this album too, but as far as I'm concerned, I was fine with not having to deal with the technical side, setting up microphones, editing, doing effects. It's the first album in a long time where I really feel I can just be an artist, a singer, a songwriter, free to focus on the emotional delivery of the songs. I didn't need to think about production and all the rest. We'd already done plenty of that on the previous albums.

You're right in the middle of your American tour at the moment, and your concerts have become more and more spectacular over the years. What kind of surprises do you have in store for European fans?

We're planning to do a little club tour in Europe in November. We'd like to play a few concerts then so we can come back bigger in summer 2027. I'm fairly sure we'll play at least once or twice in all the main European countries. And then next summer, we'll do things on a larger scale. That's the plan. And on the surprise side, we're actually still figuring out what we want to do, so I won't say too much for the moment, but it should be very spectacular once again.

On this album, the track "Cryogen" is hugely reminiscent of "Plug In Baby." It's maybe the first time I've heard such an obvious connection between who you were in the early 2000s and who you are today. Do you think you can bring your different audiences together?

That would be nice! I think on certain tracks we've stopped being afraid of our past, of the sound and style of the early Muse albums. We're not afraid to revisit those sonorities. And "Cryogen" really does sound very "early-years Muse", a power-trio sound, very guitar-driven. We didn't force ourselves to do it. We just figured it felt good to do it now, without feeling like we were repeating ourselves. A lot of water has gone under the bridge, we can allow ourselves to revisit our own work, and it feels like adding a new layer to our story. But it doesn't apply to the whole album. "Cryogen" clearly stands apart on that score. It reminds me that "Plug In Baby" was a fairly unique song in its time, and its success didn't stop us from wanting to come back to that. But after twenty years, twenty-five even, I think we can allow ourselves that.

The "Wow!" signal is a radio signal picked up in 1977 in Ohio, in the United States. Let's imagine that signal really was a call from interstellar friends. How would you describe the current state of our world to them?

I'd try to stay positive. I think we've evolved. We've gone through extraordinary changes as a species on this planet. And we're on the verge of creating something that will probably be capable of traveling beyond our solar system, something capable of going further. We're about to pass the torch to something that will truly be able to explore space and, I hope, do it without destroying us. Honestly, I think that's pretty good, actually. I don't know if it would make them want to come, and at the same time, I can understand why not. I don't know if you're familiar with Dark Forest theory? It's the first song on the album ["The Dark Forest"]. Basically, it says that the reason we don't detect any life out in space is because life is hiding. Because any form of life that reveals itself gets destroyed. It's a metaphor: all the creatures in the forest are hiding because they're afraid of being hunted. That's why the universe seems lifeless. Intelligent life very quickly understands that it must stay silent and hide. The "Wow!" signal could have been a mistake on the part of our hidden friends. Sometimes we feel so alone, we so badly want to believe there's something else out there, that we like to tell ourselves the encounter could be peaceful and enriching. But this theory reminds us, in a way, that perhaps that's not the case.