Super Connected

Super Connected is the twenty-sixth studio album and first feature-length film drama by English musician Tim Arnold. The album was released on 5 May 2023  by his own label TA Music. Written and produced by Arnold, the concept album has an art-rock mixed-genre sound. Lyrically, it explores the insidious rise of tech, focusing on addiction, mental health, consumerism and compassion for those affected by screen dependency. The completion of the album culminated in Arnold's diagnosis of autism spectrum disorder. Upon release, the album was met with critical acclaim and unanimous praise in what The Times called "a surprisingly uncharted territory".

Background and release
Super Connected follows Arnold's 2022 25th album "Maybe Magic". Super Connected was 7 years in the making. According to Arnold, Super Connected was inspired by Italian psychiatrist Ricardo Cavrioli and his work in the mental health field, assessing teenagers suffering with screen addiction.

It was written and produced by Arnold, and features co-production by Jonathan Noyce and Ben Pelchat.

According to Prog magazine, the album incorporates multiple genres including pop, rock, prog and synth funk, with a “lyrical narrative that takes aim at big tech's insidious footprints across our lives”.

"“I wanted to use sounds that big tech companies use to trigger dopamine. But I wanted to use those sounds melodically, alongside lyrics that are about companies using those sounds to trigger dopamine.”"

The record was announced in May 2021 in God Is In The TV, but would not be released until May 2023. The first track, 'Start With The Sound', served as the lead single from the album. It won track of the week in Prog magazine.

Critical reception
Super Connected has been reviewed by numerous publications including The Times, Mojo, The Quietus, Prog, Clash, Rock n Reel, Classic Pop, The Big Issue, Culture Catch, and Neurodiverse Review.

Writing for Mojo, Martin Aston explained the album's title as a reference to "The enslavement to, and big tech surveillance of, our phone and computer screens”.  Will Hodgkinson writing in The Times' 'Albums of the Week' described the subject as dealing with  'the loneliness of the digital landscape'.  Reviewing for Clash Magazine, Gareth James hailed Arnold's opening track ‘Start With The Sound’ as a "complex, angular synth-pop masterwork". James described the album as "A concept album of sorts that explores the impact of social media on our mental health and the power of the tech giants".  Similarly, Johnny Spears of Prog Magazine lauded Arnold's "versatility" with a "deft touch when bending a range of rock and pop styles to his will", describing the album as "a conceptual lyrical narrative taking aim at big tech's insidious footprints across our lives".

Censorship and Apple
On the 3rd July 2023, music and culture website and magazine Louder Than War reported that Super Connected had been banned by Apple on their Apple Music streaming service. It was claimed the ban resulted from Track 6: ‘A Commercial Break’, a short sketch and spoof parody ad, featuring British actor Stephen Fry humorously describing the benefits of the “iHead", a fictional immersive headset at the centre of the concept album's narrative story and accompanying feature film. An open letter to Apple written by Arnold gained support from notable signatories such as Kaiser Chiefs‘ Ricky Wilson,10CC's Kevin Godley, Spandau Ballet's Gary Kemp and human rights campaigner Peter Tatchell.

Apple news website 9to5mac.com reported that the “iHead” has similarities to Apple's Vision Pro spatial computer, with Arnold saying that this might be the reason the track, and subsequently the album, were not permitted on Apple Music, with online gaming magazine iGame News stating that Apple had banned an 'innocent parody of The Vision Pro'.

Future Plc's art and design site Creative Bloq announced that “the tech giant doesn't seem to want anyone taking the mick out of what will be its first entirely new product in years”.

Technology and science news outlet Tech Times subsequently revealed that Arnold's "iHead" was created in 2019 by Arnold and special effects artist Valerie Charlton. According to the official Super Connected website, the 'iHead' was completed with digital rendering by global talent director of Framestore Andrew Schlussel, four years before Apple announced the Vision Pro. Creative industries website 'Design Taxi' wrote "The imaginary gadget is mounted with a row of iPhones, and is envisioned to connect people's imaginations with the sense of sound", illustrated in the article by two videos directed by Arnold, both featuring the iHead.

In response, Apple informed Arnold that the ban stemmed from the presence of a fake ad rather than the content that was speculated to be targeting the Vision Pro headset.

Arnold said the fake ad was an important part of the album, a satire on how digital services have affected our music and our lives through the insertion of commercials. On the 11th July, ten days after Arnold's publicly supported and celebrity endorsed open letter was published, Music News reported that Apple and digital distributor Ditto Music finally solved the delayed distribution of ‘Super Connected’ with the album now available on the Apple Music streaming service.

Super Connected: The Film
Following the compelling story of a tech-dependent family, the film Super Connected explores the burgeoning mental health crisis emerging due to our increased isolation and growing dependency on social media.

Collaborators include costume design by Hazel Pethig, whose credits include Doctor Who, Monty Python and the Holy Grail, Terry Gilliam's Time Bandits, Kate Bush's The Line, the Cross and the Curve and as reported by entertainment website Music News, a "thrilling vocal cameo" from Stephen Fry.

After its first public screening at London's Roundhouse, journalist Charles Donovan wrote in Rock'n'Reel of the film: "Those of us lucky enough to see and hear… came away changed, whether slightly or greatly, for the better. Poignant, funny, ominous and heartrending."

Nick Couldry, Professor of Media, Communications and Social Theory at the London School of Economics, said: "No musician gets the issues around surveillance capitalism and data colonialism like Tim Arnold".

Super Connected: The Theatre Show
The live multimedia show of Super Connected was workshopped in 2022 under the direction of actress and theatre director Kate Alderton at SXSW in Austin, Texas and The Temple of Art And Music in London. Alderton adapted Super Connected for the stage in its first public performance at London's Roundhouse in May, 2023 to coincide with the album release. Speaking about the show and Alderton's development of the piece, Arnold said:

"'The message of Super Connected is fairly straight forward in the way it focuses on how much our lives are dominated by tech and screens, but artistically it's a complex beast. Through Kate Alderton's directorial lens, the two elements (the album and the film) became unified. She found a way to make me, my pianist Sarah Kershaw, the album and the film, all become characters in a piece of theatre.'"

Track listing
All tracks were written and produced by Arnold.