Thoughts on Selfish Machines

Selfish Machines - PTV

This album took me a while to really "get" when I was starting to dive into their stuff. When I listen to albums, I slowly add new songs I like to my playlists. I'm not sure exactly what put me off from it for that long but eventually they all ended up on my main playlist.

Strengths: I think they took all of the ambition from AFFTD and added the experience/new resources to create an album with a lot of variety. They take a lot of creative risks and it's definitely more showy. I like the balance here. The songwriting is also some of my favorite. 

Weaknesses: I found the addition of more pop elements, especially in Bulletproof Love (which I understand was a very intentional choice Interview), hard to swallow at first. I still would consider that song to be my least favorite on the album even though I like it enough now. The first release also had some production that made it hard to listen for me. The rerelease that included Kissing In Cars fixed the issues I had though. 

I wish I was around for this album's prime. Unfortunately, I was not yet any sort of alt.