phonewifey and ERSATZ muse on tech with 'You Have a New Memory'
"It started out as 'lite music for an algorithmically generated photo slideshow' and spiraled into ERSATZ and I musing over the most covertly pernicious elements of our mundane technological dependencies," says phonewifey on their new single.
The prolific alt-pop artist joins forces with his friend and long term collaborator ERSATZ on a sub-three minute hyperpop referencing track that explores our relationship with technology and the increasing power of tech companies over us.
"I think when the tech industry realised that users were more the product than the phones themselves, the tone in which the daily instruments of surveillance capitalism started speaking to us changed: when a phone has a direct incentive to make you use it more, to commodify your attention within the attention economy, to maximise your usage, study your habits and send those findings into a larger web of consumer surveillance, it speaks of a rapidly snowballing conflict of interests with technology's relationship to its end user" says phonewifey.
"'You Have a New Memory' is a pipeline; a flashy algorithmic attention grab to keep you looking just a few seconds more, to find something in a pile of digital detritus that may move you to further engage with the larger network. See image, post image, harvest likes, scroll, see advertisements, ignore advertisements, scroll, have wants instilled, remember products, buy products etc. and on and on with infinite variations and permutations."
Stream 'You Have a New Memory' below or listen with your preferred player here.
'Need You' is out now via DMY Artists.
Submit music for release via DMY Artists here.
Read next: phonewifey explores the confusing nature of modern life on 'idk anything'
