Who knew we’d be able to get one last Beatles song decades after they disbanded?
On June 13, Sir Paul McCartney revealed a new project in an interview with BBC Radio 4. With some help from artificial intelligence technology, they were able to “extricate” John Lennon’s voice from an old recording.
“When we came to make what will be the last Beatles record, it was a demo that John had that we worked on. We just finished it up, it’ll be released this year,” McCartney shared.
“We were able to take John’s voice and get it pure through this AI. Then we can mix the record, as you would normally do. So it gives you some sort of leeway,” the musician said as he explained the process behind the technology.
The Beatles first used this technology in Peter Jackson’s documentary, Get Back. During production, dialogue editor Emile de la Rey was able to train computers to recognize and separate the band members’ voices from background noise.
But with this new discovery comes quite a few uncertainties. “There’s a good side to it and then a scary side,” McCartney continued. “We’ll just have to see where that leads.”
He didn’t share the name of the song but news outlets have speculated that it’s one of Lennon’s compositions titled “Now And Then” which he wrote in 1978.
McCartney received the demo containing this song from his late bandmate’s widow, Yoko Ono. The demo, recorded on a cassette, was labeled “For Paul.”
The remaining band members had previously tried to finish the song in the 90s but the sound quality of Lennon’s voice wasn’t up to par at the time.
Paul McCartney’s upcoming projects
Fast forward to three decades later, we may finally get the new song later this year. In the same interview with Radio 4, McCartney talked about the launch of a new book and photography exhibition at the National Portrait Gallery.
The project, titled Eyes Of The Storm, shows never before seen photographs that chronicle the Beatles at the height of their fame. The photos were taken by McCartney himself between December 1963 and February 1964, an intense period where the band was catapulted into fame.
“It was really nice, looking back at the photos and reminding me of those days,” McCartney said, as he showed the interviewer around the exhibit which is set to open at the end of June.
Banner image via Twitter @thebeatles.
