Deep Track AI

Spotify Unwrapped 2024: Goblincore Indie

Spotify Unwrapped

Like every other Spotify user, I greatly look forward each year to the Spotify Unwrapped present every winter.

This year, they went a little crazy with defining genre descriptions based on distinct listening periods, ie Goblincore fantasy indie folk.

Let's see how ChatGPT handles these interesting new genres!

AI Prompt

Can you describe what "Goblincore fantasy indie folk" might look like as a music genre and give 10-15 artists & songs that would represent that genre. Give a serious answer. A fun answer. Then the artists/songs

Response

Serious Answer

Goblincore fantasy indie folk is an imagined music genre that blends the aesthetic and themes of Goblincore—a niche subculture that celebrates the beauty of nature’s grit, decay, and oddities—with the storytelling and earthy instrumentals of fantasy folk and indie folk music.

Musically, the genre would be characterized by:

• Acoustic, rustic instrumentation: fiddles, mandolins, banjos, dulcimers, harps, accordions, and flutes.
• Raw, lo-fi production: intimate recordings with ambient sounds like rain, footsteps, or forest noise.
• Nature-focused lyrics: stories of moss-covered rocks, toads, mushrooms, autumn winds, and forgotten glades.
• Otherworldly storytelling: drawing inspiration from folklore, fairytales, and creatures that lurk beneath gnarled roots or in abandoned ruins.
• Ethereal vocals: delicate, hushed harmonies, alongside rougher, impish voices that feel like spirits or goblins singing in hidden burrows.

Overall, this genre feels both whimsical and dark, evoking visions of earthy landscapes where magic and decay coexist.

Fun Answer

Imagine stumbling into a damp, mossy forest clearing. There’s a gathering of goblins, elves, and fae playing a makeshift concert. A goblin plucks a battered lute, a sprite dances with bells on her ankles, and a bard hums a tune about mushrooms and forgotten treasures. Their music drifts through the leaves—sometimes gentle, sometimes chaotic—like the soundtrack to a woodland adventure where you might trip over a stone and find a pocket of gold or a talking toad.

In this world:

• Goblins write songs about their love of mud, stolen trinkets, and half-eaten fruits.
• Fae creatures sing eerie, soft melodies about lost love and ancient trees.
• Indie folk musicians hum about the melancholy beauty of decay, wildflowers growing through ruins, and the wonder of simple things.

Basically, it’s the music you’d hear if Mumford & Sons joined a goblin caravan for a magical road trip.

Artists & Songs That Could Represent "Goblincore Fantasy Indie Folk"

1. The Oh Hellos – "Like the Dawn"

   • Soft, expansive indie folk with fairytale-like lyrics.

2. Fleet Foxes – "White Winter Hymnal"

   • Ethereal harmonies and earthy, nostalgic sounds.

3. Agnes Obel – "Riverside"

   • Haunting vocals with natural, dreamlike imagery.

4. Faun – "Walpurgisnacht"

   • Medieval-inspired folk with pagan and woodland themes.

5. Iron & Wine – "Tree By the River"

   • Gentle indie folk storytelling with nature imagery.

6. Cosmo Sheldrake – "The Moss"

   • Playful, quirky songs that feel like goblins wrote them in the woods.

7. Ben Howard – "Old Pine"

   • Warm, nostalgic folk infused with forested landscapes.

8. Hollow Coves – "The Woods"

   • Acoustic ballads about wild places and the peace of nature.

9. Loreena McKennitt – "The Mystic’s Dream"

   • Ethereal Celtic folk with mythic overtones.

10. The Decemberists – "The Hazards of Love 4"

    • Folk rock with dark, fantastical storytelling.

11. Gillian Welch – "The Way It Goes"

    • Rustic, stripped-down folk storytelling with an edge of melancholy.

12. Andrew Bird – "Sisyphus"

    • Whimsical instrumentation and offbeat lyricism.

13. Angus & Julia Stone – "Big Jet Plane"

    • Melancholy vocals with a dreamy, lo-fi texture.

14. Sufjan Stevens – "All the Trees of the Field Will Clap Their Hands"

    • Poetic lyrics paired with delicate acoustic arrangements.

15. Wovoka Gentle – "When Cameron Was in Egypt’s Land Let My Cameron Go"

    • Experimental, surreal folk sounds that feel magical and strange.

🎶✨

Credits

Photo by David Bartus: https://www.pexels.com/photo/close-up-of-statue-325255/

Thanks for the new exciting new genre, Spotify!