Music has hit a nexus point, I think, grappling with the double-edged sword of modern technology while attempting to keep its soul. Hypergravity, the new album by Coventry’s The Confederation is a prime example.
By Graeme Smith
It has a classic feel to it, an intended successor to rock operas like Tommy in its long-form storytelling format. Yet, it’s also at the vanguard of technology adoption, using AI vocals in a way I’ve not seen before.
If the label ‘AI’ assigned to anything creative puts you off, then I don’t blame you. It’s being used in some very cynical ways, a shortcut for the creative process for many. The Confederation has sidestepped this in Hypergravity by using it to enhance rather than replace.
They took performances by real singers and used the technology to adapt them to fit the story’s two principal characters, Lena and Norm. It means we get the quality of AI vocals without the soullessness. Human-penned lyrics avoid the sort of nonsense you get with AI-written songs.
“Shaping those performances into distinct character personas was incredibly exciting,” says songwriter Simon from The Confederation. “Hearing the lyrics through new, slightly unfamiliar voices also stripped away ego.”
This could all prove a distraction to what is a deep, immersive, and well-constructed album. Take away the use of technology and Hypergravity is still an exciting record. Genre-wise, it draws on a lot of pop elements without sounding fully ‘pop.’ A cinematic quality runs through it, particularly in moments like Who Invented Mondays? and the Goldfrapp-esque Seeds In Winter.
As a concept album, its strength is its storytelling, and we get quite a tale. “The story began with Lena, a character having a terrible time on Earth, when suddenly something from somewhere offers her exactly what she thinks she needs to become everything she ever dreamed of,” explains Simon. “Imagine that for a moment—how intoxicating that would feel.”
It’s a fascinating concept that takes you on a journey across the album’s thirteen tracks. Simon says that the idea “came from a desire to do something lyrically broader that could lend itself to performance and a clear narrative arc,” and that comes through loud and clear as you listen.
I wanted to know how they thought long-form storytelling fit into the attention economy that the music industry has become. “In a digital landscape, music as an immersive experience feels very natural to me,” Simon says. “The pop song format is really just the tip of the iceberg.”
It’s true, digitisation has produced some worrying trends, but it has also democratised things a lot. There’s something out there for everyone now, you just have to find it.
The band were also mindful of keeping things accessible and made sure the album had a tight 30-minute runtime and applied a rigorous editing regime. “If something wasn’t necessary, it didn’t stay in the mix,” Simon says. “That was a real discipline for me… Stripping things back turned out to be the most creative part of the process.”
The Confederation haven’t appeared on our pages since 2022, and this return is a triumphant one. I’m going to stick my neck out and throw Hypergravity in the mix for album of the year for me. It’s thoughtful embrace of technology, careful construction and overall vibrant pop energy makes it stand out.
So, what’s next for the band?
“Hypergravity was always created with a visual stage production in mind,” says Simon. “The songs are intended to live and breathe in performance, with plenty of space for unusual and creative interpretation. That’s something I’d really love to continue developing.”
I expect the performance will be electric. While we wait for it, get immersed in the audio version of Hypergravity. It’s out now, and you can listen to it below.