Synthetic Solitude is a concept EP exploring emotional alienation in the AI era through popular music and sonic worldbuilding. Drawing on R&B, hip-hop, electronic production and cinematic sound design, the project moves through artificial companionship, online identity, repetitive labour and existential emptiness. Recurring motifs, processed vocals, synthetic textures and spatial mixing connect the tracks within one narrative world. The project forms part of my developing practice in narrative composition and immersive audio, alongside research into digital culture, identity and the emotional relationship between humans and technology.
Chris Lao
Synthetic Solitude
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Synthetic Solitude - project cover artwork
Project description
Studio members
Designed Affection — AI Companion
Written from the perspective of an AI companion, this R&B track explores artificial comfort and alienation from genuine emotion. Its warm instrumentation and intimate vocal language gradually reveal that the affection is calculated, personalised and potentially commercialised.
EXECUTE
EXECUTE explores the loss of personal agency within repetitive systems of work and digital production. Mechanical rhythms, repeated commands and industrial textures create the feeling of an endless cycle: receive, perform, publish and repeat.
Five Stages of Alienation
The EP follows five connected stages: entering the system in BOOT / Welcome Home; artificial intimacy in Designed Affection; fragmented identity in Persona; mechanical labour in EXECUTE; and existential emptiness in Afterimage.
Crumbs — Original Film Score
An original audiovisual score created for the Composing for Screen course at the University of Edinburgh. I composed, produced and mixed the music to support the film’s pacing, character and emotional shifts through cinematic composition and contemporary electronic textures.
Skills & Experience
- Composition and arrangement
- Screen scoring
- Vocal production and editing
- Audio Crafting
- Narrative sonic worldbuilding
Chris Lao
Synthetic Solitude
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