William Doyle returns with his first new music since 2021’s critically acclaimed album ‘Great Spans of Muddy Time’ (10/10 Loud & Quiet, 9/10 Line of Best Fit, 4/5 Mojo, 8/10 Uncut, 5th The Quietus 100 Albums of the Year).
New single ‘Surrender Yourself’ (out 4 October via Tough Love Records) is a playful electronic pop track on which Doyle dives into the uncanny valley to embody the smooth confidence of an AI eager to improve on our feeble human consciousness: “Is your wisdom infinite or do you want to augment it with us?” it purrs.
Doyle says: “To ‘Surrender Yourself’ at first may seem like a call to liberation – to surrender yourself to the present moment, to the unpredictability of life, to loosen your grip on the reins of your existence and enter a flow state. But read it again and the threat and menace of the phrase becomes apparent – You are surrounded. We have you exactly where we want you. There’s no way out. Surrender Yourself! The voice in this song is trying to convince you that it’s an ambassador of the former reading, but listen again and you’ll hear that it’s really the spokesperson of the latter.
“Some of the lyrics are adapted from a genuinely funny and quite revealing experimental interview with an AI chatbot trained on the words of Mark Zuckerberg published by The Guardian. The short-lived dream of the Metaverse was an inspiration for this song. Let’s stop surrendering ourselves to mediocre billionaires!”
One of Doyle’s most immediate and upfront productions since shedding his East India Youth moniker, the track was crafted in his salty new hometown of Margate with indie superproducer Mike Lindsay (Tuung, LUMP) on co-production and mixing duties (for this track and the as-yet unannounced full album coming 2024). The single features b-vox from musicians Genevieve Dawson and Alexander Painter (who also plays sax on the track) adding an androgynous effect to the imagined AI and “a layer of chaotic polyrhythm” comes courtesy of Doyle’s longtime supporter and collaborator, Brian Eno.
The new single prefaces a short 2023 warm-up tour, including a performance at Sŵn Festival; full dates are listed below. Listen/stream/download ‘Surrender Yourself’ here.
22 Oct – Sŵn Festival, Cardiff
24 Oct – Heartbreakers, Southampton
25 Oct – The Smokehouse, Ipswich
26 Oct – Ramsgate Music Hall, Ramsgate
