Kele Fleming explores the reality of AI with her sharp new single and video Turing Test — showcasing today on Tinnitist.
It’s rare that a song is named after the test used to assess a machine’s ability to exhibit intelligent behavior indistinguishable from that of a human. But for Vancouver-born, Victoria-based indie folk-pop artist Fleming, there’s proof of a beating heart in her stellar new single — no piece of machinery could craft such a pristine piece of work that is as ethereal as it is soulful.
Fleming’s Turing Test is a haunting, introspective track that fuses Bruce Springsteen’s heartland rock with the ethereal vibes of Cocteau Twins. It explores AI’s quest for self-awareness and identity, reflecting humanity’s untapped potential and cosmic connection. Through lush, layered sounds and evocative lyrics, the song invites listeners to ponder technology’s allure, identity, and the ecstasy — and risks — of existence.
“The song touches on a number of themes — identity, longing for something you don’t have, and the lure of technology and creation and the potential dangers of such,” Fleming says. “In the song, the AI character wants so much to be free and have its own identity. It’s celebrating its uniqueness and the power of its existence without thinking about the impact it may have. At the same time, it’s eating a bowl of stars — a metaphor for devouring the universe and its potential to do damage to the universe as we know it.
“Turing Test is a reminder and an invitation to embrace that being alive and being human is a miracle. Part of being human is having access to the cosmos. There’s the opportunity for transcendence available to use in relationship to the cosmos and we don’t take it.”
The song is named after the late British mathematician Alan Turing, who was crucial during the Second World War in deciphering the German Enigma Code. Postwar, Turing laid the groundwork for what became computer science, including the idea of a “universal machine” which later was known as the Turing Machine, an abstract model for computers.
“Alan Turing also wanted to be free,” Fleming says. “He was a gay man living in a time when being homosexual was illegal in the U.K. He was punished and persecuted by the state for being who he was. So, the song also touches on the imagined pain and longing of Alan Turing to live out his life in peace and embrace his identity as a queer man.” Turing, who died in 1954, was pardoned posthumously in 2013.
Written and recorded in June 2024 at Vancouver’s Warehouse Studio, Turing Test originated from a challenge keyboardist Matthew Presidente posed to Fleming: “Write a new song on the Saturday night between sessions.” After writing the first verse and chorus after taking in a friend’s band’s gig, Fleming finished the song 12 hours later and recorded it with her band. “Everyone got into a magical groove,” she says. “It was pure joy!”
Fleming, who also plays acoustic and electric guitar on Turing Test, is accompanied by drummer Tony Lee, Scott Fletcher on bass and mandolin, Jonathan Blokmanis on electric guitar and Presidente on piano and keyboards. The single was engineered by Sheldon Zaharko at Zed Productions (with assistant engineer Annie Kennedy) and mastered by Andrew Downton at Railtown Mastering.
Fleming’s style has been compared to Lucida Williams, Kate Bush and Neko Case. After fronting ’90s indie group Hazel Motes, Fleming released her debut solo album Songs From The Tinforest in 2006. Her subsequent albums include 2010’s World In Reverse, 2016’s No Static and 2020’s The Song I Will Write For My Whole Life. In 2023, she released a handful of singles including In My Dream (Mercury Teardrop Remix), Vanishing Of Bees, Set Me Free and a remastered version of Carrier Hotel.
Watch the video for Turing Test above, hear more from Kele Fleming below, and meet her on her website, Instagram, Facebook, TikTok and Twitter.
