Senior Dunce has by no means been afraid to embrace his awkwardness, however “Romantic LLM” is a special form of courageous. It’s a love track for the digital age, wrapped in shimmering 80s synths and dripping with melancholy, but one way or the other nonetheless danceable. The monitor asks the form of query you didn’t know you wanted to listen to: what occurs when our most common want—love—is mediated by algorithms?
It’s a giant query, however Dunce doesn’t overcomplicate it. As a substitute, he lets the music do the speaking. The shiny layers of synth create a dreamlike backdrop, whereas DORA’s velvet vocals lower by with a heat that feels nearly startling towards the digital gleam. She doesn’t simply sing on the monitor—she humanises it.
The magic of “Romantic LLM” is that it feels nostalgic and futuristic on the identical time. There are shades of The Midnight’s neon sparkle, echoes of Her’s cinematic longing, even whispers of Blade Runner’s melancholy—however it by no means collapses into pastiche. It’s very a lot its personal factor, a Dunce creation by and thru.
For an artist who thrives on blurring irony and sincerity, this monitor appears like an ideal storm. You’ll be able to snort on the absurdity of falling for an AI, however it’s also possible to really feel the sting of it—the inevitability, the unhappiness, the unusual fantastic thing about it. Dunce’s persona because the everlasting outsider has by no means sounded extra relatable.
“Romantic LLM” isn’t simply one other single; it’s a second of readability for an artist unafraid to show awkwardness into an artwork kind. You’ll dance, you’ll replicate, and also you would possibly simply surprise what love will appear to be within the a long time to return.
