Sci-Fi novelist Philip K Dick once asked ‘Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?’. Now, Portland-based, Sci-Fi-influenced, experimental indie rock project, Baron Minker, has created something even deeper to cater to the somnolence of robots. The alias for songwriter Dane Erik Forst has shared his video for Anthem of the Rich and the Bored, which is lifted from his forthcoming self-titled album, due out June 5, 2020. About the track/video Forst said, “This feels like my only real politically-leaning song that is directly aimed at those who subjugate the weak and use them for their own means. The chorus is meant to be from the perspective of those abusing power and seeing humans as less than cogs in the machine. Religious figures misleading people with the help of government to trounce on those less fortunate and making outrageous amounts of money doing so. Watch the Anthem of the Rich and the Bored video clip via YouTube below.
A beautiful, dreamy endeavor – Baron Minker carves out a thoughtful balance between worlds both savage and serene. What results is a sound like the singularity. An underground cadre of Terminator-like cyborgs who long not for violence, but for love and existential cohesion. It’s Skynet’s art rebellion. It’s an exercise in restraint and self-indulgence. The collective dissonance the album paints comes together like a scene of androids and humans together in search of meaning amid the unfolding of a new universe.
Blending indie sheen with understated vocals and a penchant for eclectic absurdity, Baron Minker delivers liquid sonancy with vivid, imaginative landscapes that melt into deep, reflective pools of sound. This self-titled debut weaves in and out through a sparkly mix of shoegaze and 70’s psychedelia and by the time you’re out the other side, you’ve traveled lightyears. The journey across these electric cosmos stretches space and time and lands firmly on satisfying ground. Simply put, this album is a lot of fun.
The album traverses the world it creates with urgency and attentiveness. Lyrical explorations of the ever changing nature of human interactions, both within society and the self, texture the tracks. There are moments like Anthem of the Rich and the Bored saturated with dread and hysteria that move into electro-grooves of the dystopian Covered in Concrete. Allowing itself moments of tranquility, Dodgeball is a rippling, well placed refueling in this interplanetary journey. The ethereal and self-reflecting Cocomo Hum blends beautiful, swirling vocals with electric smoothness that feel like a conversation between a moon and nearby satellites, while the closing track Nice Chompers addresses despair and the hope that rises from it’s conquering. All in all, Baron Minker offers up a smooth, deep, personal, connected electricity (a connectricity, if you will) that grows more pleasant with each listen.
