Infinity Frequencies – Computer Afterlife
Recommendation: ☀☁☁
If vaporwave is often interpreted as a nostalgia trip, then Infinity Frequencies is a nostalgia trap. Computer Afterlife is the third album in a trilogy that also spans Computer Death and Computer Decay. All three albums utilize samples from old commercial tapes and Weather Channel broadcasts that have been cut and repurposed to portray a pensive and occasionally despondent perspective on obsolescence. As with previous entries, the tracks in Computer Afterlife are chiefly constructed of two- or three-second loops that are repeated for a short duration, often with extra reverb, crackle, or other processing to give the impression that the medium to which one is listening may fall apart at any moment.
Those who have listened to the other parts of the series may generally expect the same thing, with two exceptions. The vocal samples are a bit more sparse here: only “Lingering” and “Particles” feature any of note, with the latter being one of the best tracks in the entire series. These songs are necessary to break the monotony that would otherwise pervade Computer Afterlife if it were purely instrumental. Secondly, the songs of Computer Afterlife are more delicate in their production: “Portals”1 is positively ghostly, and “Remember” sounds as if its strings might crumble at any moment.
In terms of a closer to its trilogy, Computer Afterlife hits the mark alright, but just alright. The samples are interchangeable: one could take any track from the previous two albums and swap it with one on Computer Afterlife, and the listener’s experience would not be profoundly affected. A few tracks are too long and wear the signalwave sample-repetition a too thin, such as on “Always” and “Empty.” Ending track “Within” is anticlimactic, with a vaguely East Asian-sounding loop played for barely forty seconds. As a closer, “Majesty” on Computer Death was way, way better, and it led into Computer Decay‘s “Forever” in a way that was provoking and demonstrated some thematic progression. There’s less of that necessary progression here on Computer Afterlife, which sounds mostly of cuts that didn’t make the previous two albums. These are good cuts nonetheless, but one expects a stronger close.
As a stand-alone album, Computer Afterlife does well, and it’s certainly on the list of “Vaporwave Albums You Should Experience” due to its membership within the Computer trilogy and its utilization of chamber pop in signalwave. But in the context of its sister albums, it’s probably the weakest one. Yet saying that this is the weakest Computer album is like saying one apple pie doesn’t taste as good as another apple pie: it’s apple pie, so it’s gonna taste good no matter what.2 Computer Afterlife is a flawed album, but there is still a worthwhile experience to be had.
Tracklist
1. Lost in the abyss – (1:51)
2. Eternal – (1:29)
3. Data entry – (0:57)
4. Empty – (2:15)
5. Collapse – (0:25)
6. Implanted memories – (1:26)
7. A storm is coming – (1:02)
8. Half-life – (0:20)
9. Testament – (0:44)
10. Fragments – (0:35)
11. Relic – (0:57)
12. Portals – (0:58)
13. Disappear – (0:23)
14. Lingering – (0:46)
15. Remember – (1:22)
16. Void – (1:21)
17. Always – (1:20)
18. No one – (0:24)
19. Surrounding – (0:48)
20. Frozen in time – (1:29)
21. Particles – (0:55)
22. Within – (0:43)
1I swear I’ve heard this before, but I can’t place exactly where.
2Unless you really fuck up, but I’ve yet to taste such blasphemy.