A Neural Network Records Songs in the Style of Kurt Cobain

Ivan Yamshchikov and Alexey Tikhonov of Yandex created an algorithm for a neural network to write rhymed texts in the style of Nirvana vocalist Kurt Cobain. The programmers invited American singer Rob Carrol whose voice is reminscent of Cobain, and put all the recorded songs together into a mini-album. They called the resulting product Neurona. Three days ago, a music video for the song In the Back of Your Glass was released on Creaited Labs YouTube channel.

In 2016, Yamshchikov and Tikhonov presented an album of 13 songs styled as a Russian band called Civil Defense. Explaining the choice of bands for the neural stylization, Yamshchikov wrote on Facebook: “Our neural network did well when imitating the texts of those authors who preferred, so to say, dissociated narrative or worked with the aesthetics of the absurd.”