The Orb and David Gilmour, the guitar and voice of Pink Floyd, recently released Metallic Spheres In Colour, a visionary re-interpretation of their 2010 ambient classic, Metallic Spheres. Now in a new use of artificial intelligence led by major recording artists, they are stretching the creative possibilities of the remix project even further by inviting fans around the world to reimagine music from the new album, as well as its cover art, with AI-powered tools.
Starting today, fans can visit metallicspheres.io to create their own personalized AI track and artwork remixed from portions of Metallic Spheres In Colour. Visitors to the site will follow a series of prompts indicating the emotion they want the album’s artwork to convey, plus mood and tempo preferences for the available audio. The site, using artificial intelligence capabilities, then generates a new version for playback. Fans can share links to their creations via social media along with their reimagined album covers, and there will be an opportunity to purchase full length remixes as a download in the coming weeks.
In additon, select fan remixes of the Metallic Spheres In Colour album cover image, based on the original image by artist Simon Ghahary, may be included in an upcoming music video supporting the album.
Sony Music Entertainment and Legacy Recordings are collaborating with The Orb and David Gilmour to develop the Metallic Spheres In Colour AI project in partnership with Vermillio, the first generative AI platform that empowers creators and protects their work using Authenticated AI. With Vermillio’s generative AI platform, creators can style, own and track AI-powered digital creations using text-to-image and image-to-image styling tools, while creating audio remixes and variations benefitting artists.
A unique artist-led application of AI: An all-new use of artificial intelligence technology by globally renowned recording artists, the ‘Metallic Spheres In Colour’ AI Remix is powered by machine learning and a custom generative AI model developed for the project.
Remixes of the album art are generated from users listening to selections from Metallic Spheres In Colour’s musical movements in a live group setting and typing in text that describes how the audio they are hearing makes them feel. The AI model then creates new images in the style of Ghahary’s original based on the emotions it detects in the language inputs.
Next, fans can reimagine the audio by using sliders to indicate the desired mood (chill -> high energy) and tempo (slower -> faster) they want the music to convey. The user’s choices are then combined with the emotional input from the album art they personalized to create a new remix of the movement selection.
About Metallic Spheres / Metallic Spheres In Colour: In spring 2009, ambient pioneers The Orb and producer Youth were asked to remix a version of Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young’s “Chicago/Change The World”, recorded by David Gilmour in aid of the British Hacker Gary McKinnon, who was facing extradition to the USA. David Gilmour contributed further guitar parts to the mix and Youth and Orb leader Alex Paterson turned this session into a two ambient suites, the 28 minute ‘Metallic’ and the 20-minute ‘Spheres’ and released under the name ‘Metallic Spheres,’ which was initially released in 2010.
Metallic Spheres In Colour is the new 2023 remix/reimagining of the original Metallic Spheres album. This new version has been masterminded by Alex Paterson, founder of The Orb, alongside writing partner and current member of The Orb Michael Rendall and producer Youth. This new version of the album also features brand new artwork created by Simon Ghahary.
