“PROTO is as avant-garde as we’ve come to expect from Herndon’s wild and mighty brain, tempered by plenty of beauty and harmony.” – DJ Mag – Album of the Month​  
"Remarkable, futuristic and otherworldly, but brimming with character, the most striking feature about this notionally digitally album is how soulful it sounds.” – The Times – Album of the Week ****​
“A.I. and IRL in pop harmony.” – The Guardian ****​
“If PROTO’s central question is what we are heading toward, the answer must be a coming together.” – The Quietus​
“A notable work of art.” – The Skinny – Album of the Month *****​

Holly Herndon lifts the lid on the creative process of her latest album via Birthing PROTO, a 6-minute documentary directed by Theresa Baumgartner and Zoya Bassi, released today. 

Filmed in Holly’s home studio and at Volksbühne, where Herndon headlined recently with her vocal ensemble, it offers an insight into the making of third studio record PROTO, ‘Spawn’, a neural network created by herself, partner Mat Dryhurst and developer Jules LaPlace, and translating their extraordinary work to the live stage. 

Check out Birthing PROTO here. 

On PROTO, the performer and composer fronts and conducts an electronic pop choir comprised of both human and A.I. voices over a music palette that encompasses everything from synths to Sacred Harp stylings.  In addition to assembling a Berlin-based ensemble of vocalists, Holly and Mat “gave birth to an A.I. baby” affectionately named Spawn.  Housed in a souped-up gaming PC, Spawn learned on her own from Holly, Mat, Jules and ensemble vocalists during weekly “learning sessions”.  

Since her arrival in 2012 with debut Movement, Holly has successfully mined the edges of electronic and Avant Garde pop and emerged with a dynamic and disruptive canon of her own, all while studying for a doctorate at Stanford University, researching machine learning and music.  Her LP Platform closed out 2015 by gracing year-end lists from Pitchfork, The Guardian, NME, and The Wire.  In the aftermath, Radiohead hand-picked her to open up their European tour. 

A hybrid of studio project and touring band, Herndon’s live show will incorporate an expanded vocal ensemble and a newly developed A/V experience. 

September
13th - SANTIAGO DE COMPPSTELA, ES, WOS Festival @ Capitol

October
3rd - Sensoria @ The Foundry, Sheffield, GB
6th - Unsound Festival 2019 @ ICE Theatre Hall, Krakow, Poland
16th -  The Barbican, London, GB
17th - ACCA, Brighton, GB
19th - Simple Things 2019, Bristol, GB 
31rd - Club To Club Festival 2019,Turin, Italy

November
7th-11th - Le Guess Who? 2019, Utrecht, The Netherlands
14th - Culturgest, Lisbon, PT,