Headache - Thank You For Almost Everything

Headache is a project by Vegyn, the elusive producer who became friends with James Blake in a nightclub and ended up working with Frank Ocean on Blonde and Endless. Ever since, he has been releasing some great albums, but this second album under his Headache moniker really is something else. The warm-blooded productions are vintage Vegyn, but what’s new is the spoken word poetry lyrics over it all.

Despite the fact that Headache’s voice is obviously AI-generated, the lyrics are so human and real that this album can really hit the spot. Perfect for listening on headphones in a train while watching the world go by.

With such beguiling, witty and moving lyrics, it is hard to imagine that poet Francis Hornsby Clark, Vegyn’s collaborator in the Headache project, is anything other than a real person. But is he? He cannot be found online except for Headache-related topics, and some of the lyrics seem to allude to generative AI, like in “Trophy Life”:__

I am one of the first people to have neither a heart, or a brain
All I am is whatever is not up for debate right now
And all I did to make that happen was make something out of what had already been made of me

Vegyn himself insists that Clark is a real person. Here’s hoping.

~ Camiel

Listen to the album on Spotify or Bandcamp.