Calgary based artist is breaking mental health stigmas through music | Watch News Videos Online (globalnews.ca)
Canadian musician Tori Morley joins Global News Calgary to discuss her latest EP "The Eyebrow Project", which highlights the challenges of having ADHD. She also talks about her upcoming showcase to raise funds for the Canadian Mental Health Association on April 12.
Tori was interviewed on Global TV News Morning By Gaby Rios on her latest EP The Eyebrow Project and about her upcoming EP Release at the King Eddy Friday April 12, which will raise funds for the Canadian Mental Health Association - Calgary. The EP focuses on her feelings about the current political, technological, and climate as well as her experience living with ADHD. The sonic evolution of her music continues, exploring new dimensions and direction through songwriting that expands on her multi-instrumentalist talents. The lyrical style expands on the experiential narrative motif, exploring challenges and angst in the world Tori’s generation faces.
Gaby and Tori discussed two of the key subjects from the EP: Living with ADHD, and the challenges and positive aspects of Generative AI. Two of the songs from the EP explore these subjects.
The song Traveling on a Floating Rock takes you through the way that Tori's mind works with ADHD. Tori feels that she has not yet mastered the art of managing her ADHD which we are very grateful for as this song was created in a highly ADHD-esqu way. She wrote this song in a moment of extreme hyperfocus with her dad.
They wrote it in about 10 mins, leaving the end open for her to make up some lyrics to allow for a human feel while also allowing some of her ADHD to poke through in the last verse of the song.
The associated video for Traveling on a Floating Rock leveraged a number of AI and generative AI methods to capture the essence of living as an ADHD neurotypical person through a vibrant, fast-paced journey split into three dynamic sections.
Tori explores AI both through music and through video. The song Eyebrow Highbrow Tori sings about how while the application of AI is a powerful tool for helping creators realize their visions, its critical to "Put the Human Back In the Music" and not lose site of the fact its the Human musician that matters.
Eyebrow Highbrow is inspired by a quote from one of her biggest musical inspirations, Frank Zappa. The quote states “Computers can't tell you the emotional story. It can give you the exact mathematical design, but it’s missing the eyebrows.” Tori feels that this quote is becoming more relevant due to the “Rise of AI”, especially the growing presence of AI in multiple art forms including music. The chorus of the song goes “Put the human back in the music… baby” which properly encapsulates her feeling of how music is
turning from a highly expressional art form to nothing more than an emotionless product.
Zappa continues to inspire Tori's music through Tori working with composer/bass player Kurt Morgan, who produced the EP and who will be playing bass for Dweezil Zappa on the upcoming Rox(postroph)y tour.
While Generative AI and its rapid evolution presents tremendous challenges to artists and creators, there are positive elements to the technology by making it possible to bring creative concepts to life at a much lower cost than was possible even a year ago.
In the case of Travelling on a Floating Rock, bringing the concept to life required sophisticated motion capture technology which normally would be beyond the reach of an indie artist.
Fortunately, incredibly powerful real-time animation and motion capture software Unreal Engine and Methahuman Creator are free for creators to use for independent creators working on small projects.
Unreal Engine's Methauman Creator was used to create representation of ADHD's multifaceted personality with avatars of Tori embodying distraction, hyperfocus, and creativity. These characters, each showcasing different aspects of Tori's psyche, interact in a fascinating dance with the real Tori, who is portrayed in three personas: the main Tori navigating her day, the harried Tori battling distractions, and the rock star Tori achieving a state of flow.
Unreal engine was used to create a digital twin of the 360 Virtual Booth so that the Virtual Toris would match the camera perspective of the real Tori in the living room.
More information for creators looking to leverage the technology for projects can be found here:
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