Sci-Fi Inspired Indie Rock Project Baron Minker Hypnotizes with New Video

Sci-Fi Novelist Philip K Dick once asked ‘Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?’ Portland-based, Sci-Fi-influenced, experimental indie rock project, Baron Minker, has laid out something even deeper to cater to the somnolence of robots. The alias for songwriter, Dane Erik Forst, announces  his video, "How to Avoid Japan" from his forthcoming self-titled album, due out June 5, 2020. Commenting on the track/video,  Forst states,  “The song is about making decisions too hastily or not hastily enough and the difficulty in choosing. To think way bigger than you currently do and not allow the woes of the world to change your dreams while remaining grounded in some semblance of reality. In this case, avoiding Japan represents a personal desire to resist running away to new worlds to try and chase happiness. Being happy where you are and making the most of it is sometimes the wisest choice. I have had a lot of luck in my life when I’ve left where I was to pursue new goals and explore new worlds and it’s hard sometimes to go “Actually, here is good enough for now. I should stick it out and see what happens. When things get difficult, I have this deep desire to drift off to new places as if I expect I’ll then be a new person without the same issues. It’s not that you can’t explore new places, just don’t expect that external location to change you, fundamentally. It’s challenging the idea of the ever-evolving fantasy life humans tend to dangle in front of themselves in order to escape.”

A beautiful, dreamy endeavor - Baron Minker carves out a thoughtful balance between worlds both savage and serene. What results is a sound like the singularity. An underground cadre of Terminator-like cyborgs who long not for violence, but for love and existential cohesion. It’s Skynet’s art rebellion. It’s an exercise in restraint and self-indulgence. The collective dissonance the album paints comes together like a scene of androids and humans together in search of meaning amid the unfolding of a new universe.

Blending indie sheen with understated vocals and a penchant for eclectic absurdity, Baron Minker delivers liquid sonancy with vivid, imaginative landscapes that melt into deep, reflective pools of sound. This self-titled debut weaves in and out through a sparkly mix of shoegaze and 70’s psychedelia and by the time you’re out the other side, you’ve traveled lightyears. The journey across these electric cosmos stretches space and time and lands firmly on satisfying ground. Simply put, this album is a lot of fun.

The album traverses the world it creates with urgency and attentiveness. Lyrical explorations of the ever changing nature of human interactions, both within society and the self, texture the tracks. There are moments like ‘Anthem of the Rich and the Bored’ saturated with dread and hysteria that move into electro-grooves of the dystopian ‘Covered in Concrete’. Allowing itself moments of tranquility, ‘Dodgeball’ is a rippling, well placed refueling in this interplanetary journey. The ethereal and self-reflecting ‘Cocomo Hum’ blends beautiful, swirling vocals with electric smoothness that feel like a conversation between a moon and nearby satellites, while the closing track ‘Nice Chompers’ addresses despair and the hope that rises from it’s conquering. All in all, Baron Minker offers up a smooth, deep, personal, connected electricity (a connectricity, if you will) that grows more pleasant with each listen.

Stay tuned as Baron Minker announces more material leading up to his June release, and watch “Anthem of the Rich and the Bored” to get a taste of what the future holds!