AI Bands Exist Now.

By Ndyebo Magwevana.

It’s a cold Saturday afternoon in the winter holidays. I’ve found myself seated in blankets in yet another loop of doomscrolling my way towards another beautiful dose of existential dread, just like every other day. Until I landed on something familiar on Instagram that wriggled me awake… The name “The Velvet Sundown”.

The Velvet Sundown takes on a retro-rock sound. Source: Spotify/The Velvet Sundown[Picture via: news.com.au]

Initially, I was confused. I found the existence of an AI-generated band bemusing, and I chuckled, thinking of the result. And then I was afraid. Afraid to know all about them. To listen to the nightmare-inducing artificial music. To plunge in further lest I speed up the trip to existential dread. It was too late. My head was gaining weight as I read posts about them, scrolled through screenshots of artificial faces, and watched as commenters declared their dismay:

The UK electronic duo Disclosure commented, “Nope. This ain’t it, gang.” One screamed, “I HATE IT! I HATE IT! I HATE IT!” Another stated, “It honestly feels like the end of the world. We’re all doomed.” Enter four “artists” who are “[an] ongoing artistic provocation designed to challenge the boundaries of authorship, identity, and the future of music itself in the age of AI” (fancy talk roughly translating to an uncreative human’s desire to emulate human-made music lazily), as described on their Twitter/X account. We have Gabe Farrow on vocals and mellotron, Lennie West on guitar, Milo Rains on bass, and percussionist Orion “Rio” Del Mar. Having released three “albums” in less than 2 months, with their latest being released earlier this week, the infamous quartet have rapidly amassed over a million monthly listeners on Spotify, made up of supporters and those who revile the sounds of them.

The Velvet Sundown had garnered over a million listeners in nearly two months. Source: The Velvet Sundown/Spotify [via news.com.au].

And as of 20 July 2025, on a frigid Sunday afternoon, I decided to temporarily mess up my Spotify algorithm, built on 2 years of hard work, and take a small step for man and a giant leap for humankind. I was going to listen to their latest release: Paper Sun Rebellion. I looked at its cover art and recoiled in revulsion at its blandness and artificiality. I clutched my laptop mouse and shivered in fear (partly because of the cold) as I hovered over the play button… And then I pressed play.

Cover art of "Paper Sun Rebellion" sourced from Genius.

What do I think of this “album”? In short, this is a musical depiction of ideas pieced together at the eleventh hour for a school project due the next day. For lack of a better word, it is exhausting, and many factors worsened this. The most notable aspect of the “album” that pops up throughout the 36-minute listen is the lack of creativity and rapid decline in the quality of the songwriting. Lines are reused repeatedly (a phrase like “[good thing] will rise above the [bad thing]”, for example). The lyrics are meant for rhyming, not for meaning. They contrast each other when listened to in rapid succession, emulating mood swings and showing a lack of progression on this “project.”

The production has a few highlights throughout the “album,” with one being able to expose one of my weaknesses. I am weak in the knees for a beautiful melody over a dissonant song. “From Deep Within” was the only “song” that brought it to the surface for the first 25-30 seconds, until it fumbled in its tracks, much like the rest of the “album.”

However, the various instrumentals are muddled by colossal factors that become irritating. The drums are the same patterns recycled thirteen times. The compositions are bland and fail to capture the essence of the alternative rock scene of the 70s and the 80s. The instruments sound unsettlingly artificial and formulaic in their delivery.

The vocalist sounds immensely restricted in his singing, often changes his voice, and repeats the same patterns. It sounds like a robot trained on an amalgamation of artists. The harmonisation is quite odd, most notably in the chorus of the “track” “Rivers Run Free.” It seems intent on featuring two vocalists, but one voice drowns out the other.

Overall, this is a very concerning project that does not deserve to be called an album, not only because it is unlistenable, but also because it is artificially written. It was trained on many alternative rock artists from the 1970s to the 1980s to attempt to emulate that era. It mocks the human effort and creativity that fueled historical albums, such as “Chromakopia” by Tyler, The Creator, or “Mr. Morale And The Big Steppers” by Kendrick Lamar. It is a disheartening rendition of how easy it is to confuse it with authentic music, due to its stereotypical elements, and how such “art” can overshadow the marks left by humans, all under the guise of being a “synthetic music project […] visualised with the support of artificial intelligence.”

Edited by: Goitsimang Moshikaro