May, 1979. It’s an ordinary Thursday evening, which means it’s time for Top of the Pops. Amidst a zeitgeist of punk and disco, the show suddenly appears to be interrupted by a transmission from the future. A luminous synth riff echoes out, a beat drives on and up-steps an otherworldly figure – part robot, part alien – to deliver an enigmatic lyric depicting some kind of android existence in a dystopian future. It’s Gary Numan fronting Tubeway Army for their breakthrough hit ‘Are ‘Friends’ Electric?’.
Of the millions that are watching, few would’ve recognized that this moment foreshadows the shape of music to come, from synth-pop to industrial and alt-pop. That, however, can’t stop it igniting the imagination of an audience that would swell into a devoted following.
Fast-forward to January, 2021. Numan’s latest single ‘Intruder’ pulsates ominously as if it’s sound-tracking an imminent threat. As austere synths loom like shadows and industrial beats are detonated, the beguiling hook towers like a beacon in the darkness. It’s visionary and venomous, with a narrative that imagines the Earth growing angry at mankind’s actions, and more than willing to fight back. In the accompanying video, Numan looks even more out of time than he did back in 1979, like an intergalactic refugee fighting for his own existence.
Those two songs show how Numan has consistently fought against the grain to stick resolutely to his creative vision. In a career that spans over forty years, the music evolves and the themes change. But fans remain fascinated by Numan for the very fact that he’s so uncompromising.
Any story charting four decades will be a mixed blessing of momentous highs and meager lows. The achievements are remarkable for someone who never made any concessions to mainstream success. Seven Top 10 singles, including ‘Are ‘Friends’ Electric?’ and the debut solo hit ‘Cars’; seven Top 10 albums, three of which topped the charts; and huge critical acclaim, most notably with the Inspiration Award at the prestigious Ivor Novellos.
Naturally, there were times when Numan was very much not in vogue. Sure, there would be ripples of rediscovery but there were years when his increasingly conceptual albums were primarily embraced by hardcore fans. He wasn’t troubling the charts, but audiences were still flocking to see him perform – almost every UK tour would include a sold-out show at the 5000 capacity Hammersmith Apollo.
I Speak Machine, the experimental music act and audio-visual project of musician Tara Busch, is excited to announce the Friday, April 22 release of their brand new full-length album, WAR (pre-order). Created with filmmaker and collaborator Maf Lewis and co-produced with Dean Honer (Roísín Murphy, Add N To (X)), WAR is a collection of Busch’s most visceral, confrontational and honest music yet.
Taking four years to complete, WAR allowed Busch to push herself into new, unfamiliar territories in her synth-based songwriting, while also returning to the immediate, aggressive spirit of her past life in rock. The Trump presidency was a looming presence, which prompted Busch to explore not only the country’s sinister political atmosphere but the turmoil that was raging in her own life — she was emerging from an alcohol addiction while battling with trauma and panic attacks that sometimes left her bedridden.
On lead single, “The Metal Of My Hell,” a driven and urgent industrial-tinged track, Busch vocalizes her battle with addiction. “It’s a moment of rage, trying to get the fuck out of the dungeon of addiction but still, after many years, not quite having the right key,” she explains. “In time I realized it’s also about owning and accepting that bitch — addiction — head-on, and sitting with it without fear. It got to where I figuratively wanted to switch the ugly fluorescent lights on, spit gasoline into the face of addiction, light it on fire and feel it burn, instead of seeing it as this insurmountable beast.”
Stream “The Metal Of My Hell” On YouTube HERE
Additionally, I Speak Machine will be touring during February, March and April supporting the legendary Gary Numan. Kicking off on February 23 at The Fonda in Los Angeles, CA, the tour will hit major North American markets such as San Francisco, CA on February 24, Austin, TX on March 2, Nashville, TN on March 7, Atlanta, GA on March 8, Toronto, ON on March 11, New York, NY on March 13, Chicago, IL on March 21, Vancouver, BC on March 29, Seattle, WA on March 31, and culminate in a performance at The Ventura Music Hall in Ventura, CA on April 5. Tickets for all shows are on sale now and a full listing of dates can be found below.
Exploring the world of music technology, vintage synthesizers and production for over a decade, the genesis of I Speak Machine was in 2013 when musician Tara Busch produced a live score for filmmaker Maf Lewis’ debut short horror film, The Silence. From there, a personal and professional relationship developed, leading to the formation of the audio-visual project.
Now based in LA, Busch remotely co-produced the forthcoming WAR with Sheffield- based Dean Honer (Roísín Murphy, Add N To (X)). For years, she had worked alone, releasing albums with on seminal record labels Lex Records in London and Tummy Touch Records in New York, feeling pressured to prove that she could be self-reliant as a female artist. It was a freeing choice to allow another voice into the project — particularly Honer, whom Busch had long admired for his work with Add N To (X).
“I felt like, ‘fuck it. I don’t feel like I need to answer anybody for wanting to work with a producer again. Bowie did it. The Beatles did it. They sure as hell weren’t editing drum takes like I was’. But women are set to different standards; it’s a million times more difficult to be taken seriously if you are a woman in this field, and I wanted to say ‘fuck you’ to that.” From their respective sides of the Atlantic, the duo worked with an impressive armory of gear — Busch with her Roland 808, ARP 2600, and Oberheim Two Voice, and Honer on Synthi AKS, Polivoks, and Minimoog.
The album opens on title track “WAR,” where with darkly danceable synths Busch creates a rousing battle song. Elsewhere, the defiant “Beat Down By Heaven” and the haunting “Dirty Soul” utilize some of the album’s grimiest synth sounds to face the spectre of Busch’s childhood in the Catholic church head-on. “No record about mental turmoil would be complete without a prod to the ribs of Catholicism,” she says. Of the latter song, she expands: “I wanted to sing about the painful yet delightful yet embarrassing yet weirdly satisfying breakdown of when the facade of religion cracks, piece by piece. If I have what is considered a ‘filthy heart’ by the Catholic church, I must be doing something right.”
After 11 tracks that are at once exhilarating and exhausting, ultimately, I Speak Machine come home victors. “This album feels like a culmination of all the different voices and mistakes and fun things I’ve done over my career,” Busch sums up. “This album dove into some really, really dark shit in my life that I felt could be minimized and put in perspective a bit if I sang about it. I wanted to do something that was just through my eyes and not anyone else’s. The big thing was just trying to not give a fuck and get rid of inhibitions. And I wanted to shout my head off a little bit too.”
