“Morning breaks on a Wednesday, and it looks to me like… we’re not friends anymore,” croons Cricketbows vocalist Aarika Watson on the opening line to the band’s new single, “We All Became Machines” (available on Bandcamp April 1, 2022). 

The song comes third in a line of monthly singles the band has released recently that traverse multiple genres and tread into lyrical territories that feel autobiographical yet totally relatable to anyone living in today’s messy world. 

“It’s a weird time right now,” says Watson, from her home in Dayton, Ohio. “I feel like we’re living in an upside-down version of our old world. I have a friend who has almost convinced me that those scientists at CERN have set off a chain of bad alternate realities that we’re now suffering through. Or maybe it’s the Kali Yuga or some crazy curse. As far-fetched as that sounds, I think that a lot of people kind of feel that way too.”

The song’s chief lyricist and co-vocalist Chad Wells adds, “The machines in the song are literal as well as metaphorical. Social media and technology have invaded every nook and cranny of our lives for better or worse and while it makes it easier for me to write, record, and release music and to shop for groceries and communicate immediately across vast distances, it has changed who we are as humans and how we deal with each other. If I don’t agree with you about something I just hit a button and you’re gone. No working things out or learning to struggle together, just cold, machine style, world editing, and censoring. We just truly don’t know what the consequences of this evolution toward a transhuman world are going to be, but we all are feeling it.”

The track was recorded by the band in their own studio and features multi-instrumentalists  Wells and Watson on vocals, Chad’s daughter Presley (now a permanent member of the band) on bass, and Chad’s wife Michelle adds backing vocals. 

“It’s been awesome to record this way,” says Presley, of the band’s commitment to a truly DIY approach on their recent releases. “I’ve been playing music with these people my whole life, but I was mostly just playing what I was told. On these songs, I’m finding my voice as a bass player and writer so it’s nice to be in a place where I feel fully safe to speak up and fight for my notes if needed. Or if I feel like I want to be picky and listen to something a million times or try it twenty different ways, I feel fully comfortable doing it. My Dad works at a really different pace than most people and he tends to not communicate what he’s doing. He expects you to just know what he’s thinking. Doing things ourselves allows us to not have strangers in the room that we’d be embarrassed to communicate about that kind of stuff in front of.” 

“We All Became Machines” will be available for streaming and download exclusively at Bandcamp on April 1 and will appear on all streaming services on or around April 20. The song will be part of an as of yet untitled full-length album to appear later in the year.