Ground Truth
Ground Truth
Serialising the album The Drunken Fisherman (And Other Stories) by Schall und Stille (@stephan): The debut release inspired by early childhood memories, pirate radio broadcasts, war and climate change among other things. It’s a sonic journey between ambient, electronica, triphop, wave and pop; between Eno, Kraftwerk and Massive Attack. Extended instrumental pieces alternate with atmospheric pop songs, layered voices and lush sonic landscapes, sometimes sublime, sometimes sombre.
Track 7/7: Ground Truth
The ending of The Drunken Fisherman is a simple song, but a deeply personal one. It’s as much about “AI” as it is about friendship, fame, and the fragility of connection.
I wrote it thinking back to my time with Botany Bay – about all the “friends” and fans, the people who wanted to be part of our journey, who offered support, who were drawn in by the idea of something special. And how quickly all of that vanished when my parents fell seriously ill and I had to shut everything down for a few years. No one was left when I came back. No one seemed to care about me or the music anymore.
That disappearance made me question what’s real and what’s not – what actually matters when things can fall apart that quickly. Yeah I know it sounds kinda cliché, but that’s what it is about.
And that’s where it touches upon all the scary questions that the advent of LLMs bring about. What makes a connection meaningful? What is authentic in a world where interactions are faked and manufactured? Can something – or someone – be appreciated for what they truly are, rather than for the illusion they project? Why bother at all?
Today, far fewer people listen to my music than during the Botany Bay years – but I’m so much more thankful to them because I really like to think they’re here because of my music and not because they see something shiny and mysterious which I not really am.
The song was recorded live with me playing the opsix and singing along. I then added a final overdub with a pad programmed on my trusty old Wavestation A/D.
Support Schall und Stille
All proceeds from this album go to “Tara Tierhilfe e.V.“, an animal sanctuary near Cologne, Germany, which is home to more than 70 horses, goats, sheep, donkeys and pigs.
Lyrics
gimme lovely singsong unadorned
gimme things that i already know
don’t tell me of the river and don’t tell me of the sea
don’t tell me how you never really cared about me
don’t tell me the truth
now let’s count our followers, just for fun
see you got 2052 and i got 1
don’t tell me what it means don’t tell me what to do
don’t tell me how i’ve always been mistaken about you
don’t tell me the truth
