Oh man, how many notifications do I have right now? There’s at least 300 for Whats-App on my phone at any given time. I can’t imagine how many LinkedIn notifications songwriting folkster Michael Flynn (formerly of Slow Runner) must have gotten to inspire this song:
“I wrote this song from beneath a giant pile of LinkedIn invitations. They seem to be generated by robots, and there’s something almost desperate about them—maybe that’s why deleting them without even opening the email is so satisfying? Maybe I was just disillusioned with how the world works and how hollow we all are, and I blew an afternoon trying to write a song about it?”
No matter what his particularly mixed feelings are about the ever increasing necessity of keeping up with social media, he can sure as hell produce something catchy from it. There’s an auto-tuned folk aesthetic to brand new track “Professional Network” that recalls Blood Bank-era Bon Iver, but with a lighter, more whimsical sentiment that fits right in with the subject matter. The achingly postmodern refrain, “I’d like to add you to my professional network” repeating in the background would normally drive me crazy, but Michael Flynn’s songwriting chops are powerful enough to elevate this song beyond millennial drivel. Granted, this man could probably sing the phone book, and I’d gladly listen.
Michael Flynn’s new album Pretend Like is out on May 1.
You can stream “Professional Network” below:
