The Pretty Reckless’ Taylor Momsen: Digital Production Has ‘No Human Element to It’
The Pretty Reckless singer Taylor Momsen may only be 23 years old, but it's clear her musical spirit is from a more distant time. Lamenting the state of the music industry which focuses on singles and streams rather than the strength of a full album, Momsen also expressed dissatisfaction with digital recordings with "no human element to it."
Speaking with From Hero to Zero (transcription via Blabbermouth), Momsen began explaining how the music business is still trying to keep pace with rapidly progressing technology. "Now it's all about streaming, it's not about record sales," the singer began, further explaining, "I think currently, music is cyclical. Right now, it's like being in the '50s again where it's all single-based and the album is slowly disappearing, which is sad to me. I love the album. To me, it's not about one song. You can't capture everything in one song. It's about the whole piece of work, the whole body of work. That's not really how music is viewed nowadays. It's going through a transitory state right now, like the world. It always comes back."
Momsen was also asked if consumers expect the perfection that comes with digital production, to which she replied, "I'm sure it is expected, but to me, doesn't it all sound the f--king same? [Laughs] Are you bored yet with lined-up guitar solos and everyone's voice sounds the same when put through the machine? There's no human element to it, so how can you connect?"
Going on to detail the human quality to music, Momesen added, "The reason that music is such a lifeline of humanity is that you can hear the person behind the note. You can hear the pain, you can hear the struggle, you can hear the striving to accomplish something greater than yourself. With everything being so digitally manipulated, I feel you lose so much of that. I think it's sad."
The Pretty Reckless will be on the road promoting their latest album, Who You Selling For, providing support for Soundgarden on select dates on their upcoming tour. The trek kicks off on April 28 and a list of dates can be found at our 2017 Guide to Rock + Metal Tours.
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