God from the Machine is the relatively new musical project of Hampshire-based musicians Sam Dyche and Joe Shanks. On their brand new release ‘Given Up’, the duo experiment with different styles and textures, and produce a lush and warm tune that lives within you long after your first listen. A classic pop-rock tune as far as I’m concerned, ‘Given Up’ really has something for everyone, and will undoubtedly appeal to a wide, varied audience.
Lyrically, God from the Machine superbly juxtaposes their upbeat and lively sound with pretty dark and melancholic words, as they expertly capture the downfalls of a relationship that ultimately leads to simply giving up. “I guess we both know dreams are worthless, they were never meant to survive,” sings Shanks. “I’ve been trying to forget you, yeah I’ve been trying to forget – God knows how I’ve tried.” We at Indie Top 39 suggest you do yourself a favour and give ‘Given Up’ a listen!
A top-notch pop-rock hit, ‘Given Up’ sees God from The Machine coming into their own musically!
INDIE TOP 39
What does the song mean to you?
‘Given Up’ was written in the early stages of the project, and because of this ended up being rewritten several times. This allowed us to explore different styles and musical textures, before settling on what you’re hearing today. With this being our second release we were eager to share our progression as writers and continue to expand our catalogue of songs.
Tell us about your creative process and how the song came to be?
Joe: Our creative process is so varied when it comes to creating songs, I think we’ve tried just about every approach there is and have managed to create tracks using all of those methods. ‘Given Up’ went through 2 different iterations before ultimately deciding on the final sound. The creative process for ‘Given Up’ started with Sam coming in with lyrics. From that, we then created a base progression to write vocal melodies on, using Sam’s lyrics as a guide. Once we felt we had a rough version of the song, we began to produce it out, keeping a loose focus around the guitars and vocals as these are our primary instruments. Eventually after creating many more layers of rhythm and melody we reached the final version you hear today, mixed and mastered by Robby Joyner at Black Book Sound.
What are your favourite lyrics in the song?
Sam: “I became the hopeless dreamer given nothing but time.” For me these lyrics really encompass the overall sentiment of the song. They capture the longing of unfulfilled hopes and desires, which ultimately lead to the logical conclusion of giving up. We also used these lyrics as the conceptual basis for the music video which we created and produced. Portraying the idea of someone lost in their dreams with an uncertainty of reality really helped us express the lyrical themes of the song in a visual medium.
Please finish the sentence – Music to us is…
Our foundation. It’s a fundamental necessity of our way of life and of who we are. It’s taken us to so many different places and produced a wealth of unforgettable memories, with the most amazing people, whom we would never have met otherwise. That’s why we continue to write and create music, without it we would simply be lost.
Make sure to connect with God from the Machine on Instagram » Facebook
Now you can listen to all the 39 songs in one place, right here on Spotify!
This coverage was created in collaboration with Musosoup as part of the #SustainableCurator movement.
