Holly Herndon brings the full force of her vocal ensemble to the fore with new single ‘Frontier’ and accompanying visuals by Darío Alva.  An interpretation of Appalachian Sacred Harp music, the song considers a ‘Frontier’ of green or of dust – the consequences of the choices we make as a society. ‘Frontier’ follows the euphoric ‘Eternal’ and skittering beatbox of ‘Godmother’ [featuring Jlin and Spawn], all taken from her third album, PROTO, out on 10 May. 

Check out ‘Frontier’ here.

"I went to an international Sacred Harp Meetup in Berlin where I live, which was jointly led by Evelyn Saylor (an ensemble collaborator who helped to arrange ‘Frontier’ to more accurately reflect the tradition), and people gathered in a square to sing facing each other. When I stood in the middle the power of the voices brought me to tears. It was partly pure sonics and the beauty of the songs, but also the sight of witnessing people from all different backgrounds come together under such a simple and elegant premise. There were visitors from afar for whom the experience clearly had some deep religious significance. There were even more visitors clearly drawn to the event for other reasons, albeit the nature of the communion itself, or just to nerd out on the music. It felt like a rare union."

Holly’s third full-length album PROTO (out 10 May) isn’t about A.I., but much of it was created in collaboration with her own A.I. ‘baby’, Spawn.  PROTO makes reference to what Holly refers to as the protocol era, where rapidly surfacing ideological battles over the future of A.I. protocols, centralised and decentralised internet protocols, and personal and political protocols compel us to ask ourselves who are we, what are we, what do we stand for, and what are we heading towards?

+ You can pre-order on black vinyl, extremely limited clear vinyl, and CD via 4AD here +
+ You can pre-save, and pre-order, on all platforms here +

Since her arrival in 2012, Holly has successfully mined the edges of electronic and Avant Garde pop and emerged with a dynamic and disruptive canon of her own, all while studying for her soon-to-be-completed PhD at Stanford University, researching machine learning and music.  Her LP Platform closed out 2015 by gracing year-end lists from Pitchfork,The Guardian, NME, and The Wire.  In the aftermath, Radiohead hand-picked her to open up their European tour. 

A hybrid of studio project and touring band, Herndon’s live show will incorporate an expanded vocal ensemble and a newly developed A/V experience. 

May
16th - Red Bull Music Festival, New York, NY [TICKETS]
18th - Teragram Ballroom, Los Angeles CA, US [TICKETS]
20th - August Hall, San Francisco CA, US [TICKETS]
22nd  - Thalia Hall, Chicago IL, US [TICKETS]

June
12th - Kammerspiele, Munich, Germany
14th - Volksbühne, Berlin, Germany

July
19th - Sonar By Day - SonarHall, Barcelona, Spain [TICKETS]
20th - Manchester International Festival, Manchester, UK [TICKETS]

October
16th - The Barbican, London, UK

“ PROTO is as avant-garde as we’ve come to expect from Herndon’s wild and mighty brain, tempered by plenty of beauty and harmony.” – DJ Mag - Album of the Month 
“The future of A.I..” – CNN
“Herndon’s machine-R&B masterpiece is a total sensory assault..” – The Guardian on ‘Eternal’
“Multilayered, glitchy beatboxing, human input dispensed with inhuman timing.” – NY Times on ‘Godmother’