The Doubleclicks, one of my family’s favorite geek-music bands, have an upcoming release that’s a bit of a departure from their past efforts: a musical!
Laser Malena-Webber and Aubrey Turner launched a Kickstarter campaign in March 2020 to fund this concept—and, as you might recall, that’s right about the time things in the US started shutting down because of the pandemic. The siblings wanted their 7th studio album to include songs about “anxiety, friendship, love, art, cheese, and our lives” but also to tell a story about artificial intelligence and what it means to be human. Unlike their previous albums, Teaching a Robot to Love is a continuous story. Not only that, but it features several other people playing the various characters: Aliza Pearl, Amy Dallen, Bonnie Gordon, Xander Jeanneret, Zach Reino, and Morgan Peters. (There is also a planned stage reading/video, though that has been put on hold until it’s safe to do so.)
During the course of the pandemic, The Doubleclicks have also been sharing the process of the making of the musical over the past year and a half, with lots of audience-participation music videos, online concerts, and more. They’ve been releasing music videos for the songs over the past few weeks as well. There’s even a web-based videogame you can play! (In the story, this game is created by one of the characters.)
While the staged musical is still being worked out, the album is finally done, and will be released on November 19. Not only that, if you pre-order it today (November 5), it’s Bandcamp Friday, which means even more of the album price will go directly to the artists.
I backed the Kickstarter campaign myself already, and I’m excited for the album to arrive! You can find out more about Teaching a Robot to Love and pre-order the album through the official website.
