Super Connected is a concept album by the English solo artist Tim Arnold, released in 2023. The album tells the story of a family, whose isolation from each other and society is symbolised by social media and a fictional Big Tech company called Picture Sounds. The album has also been adapted into a feature film directed by Arnold and starring Kate Alderton, Dixie McDevitt and Stephen Fry. Super Connected is Tim Arnold’s 25th studio album and is available here.
“Super Connected is about our love of music, connection to family and community and how tech interrupts that love, at a time when we need more focus than ever in uniting through real experiences together. Without screens” – Tim Arnold
A family’s encounter with addictions to technology and social media that takes a dark turn as a new immersive product enters their lives. Tim Arnold’s first feature is a self-scored sci-fi Screen Album. An album you can watch, as well as listen to.
“When I began making albums, I’d read Paul McCartney’s famous quote that ‘An album should be the musical equivalent to the novel’. This approach put creators of albums in the driving seat, but with streaming platforms putting listeners in the driving seat, we now have a pic and mix approach to music, as we curate playlists out of multiple artists, which is great in every way, apart from the artist’s desire to tell a complete story in the way that it was intended to be experienced. I removed my discography from Spotify for this very reason. Imagine listening to Sgt Pepper’s for the first time and reaching for your phone after the second song. You’d miss the genius and aural experience of Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds. Is it still possibly to experience 45 minutes of an album without thinking there’s something better to do? Spotify, (like the screens in our pockets) have too much power over our ability to really be transformed by our real life experiences. Putting a screen between us and the phenomenological world turns everything we see, hear and feel into a representation of reality, not a ‘presentation’. The journey I took in writing Super Connected was an optimistic exploration into how we can all take part in the tech vs. humanity debate, with the hope that we can make real life experiences uninterrupted and meaningful again.”
For private screenings and album playbacks, join us here.