First, the songs got shorter. Then, at the recommendation of record labels and management, the construction of them changed, and all of them began to resemble radio jingles played in between commercials. Finally, some of the artists stopped showing up altogether, with producers tasked with using AI to replace the artists.
When it comes to modern music, sadly, things keep getting smaller, and art keeps getting turned into content. And, things are either going to stay that way or, perhaps, get worse, unless you do something about it. What’s the only strategy to get this to stop? Start dreaming!
Yeah, that’s right! There are still artists out there creating the kind of art that helps to create the kind of connections in the mind’s eye that no producer or radio DJ can estimate. They’re artists like Ben Cura whose music appeals to those who had it with formulas, boring formats, and the same old, same old.
I can’t tell you what to think of “Modern Life,” Cura’s brooding collection of ambient pop songs. What I can do, however, is advise you to close your eyes, take a deep breath, and let the sounds roam inside your head. And, if closing your eyes is, somehow, not an option, use Cura’s video clips as a guide.
You might find all of this startling at first if most of your interactions with music, lately, have come through the radio of TikTok reels. But, here’s how you do it! Take the opening track, “The Fear,” for example. As the synth chords and motorized beats wash over you, where do you find yourself? And, how on Earth did you get here?
Indeed, Cura’s music, when allowed to work its magic, acts as the therapist you never knew you needed. Songs like “My Empty Palace,” with its eerie vocal samples, or “Midnight Anxiety,” with elongated chords that spin around in circles, will, very likely, make you take stock of some of your own fears. Why do you feel this way? And, when did it all start?
If this sounds a little too good to be true, it’s not. But, of course, there is a catch. Ben Cura’s songs require that you spend time with them. They will nurture you in exactly the same amount that you nurture them. Still, that’s not too much to ask. Records used to be made for this purpose. Large-scale pieces of music meant to be consumed as a whole, not broken down into jingles.
And, where does it all leave us? As you listen to the final track on the album, “Horrorlogue,” and get sucked into this world that Cura has constructed, you are a little bit freer from the pop-rock mind-altering programming; you’ve allowed your imagination some of the freedom it craves. “Modern Life” may just move you closer to yourself.
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