Album Release: We Are Not Sick

After two years in the making, in September We Are Not Sick (John Longwalker and Geert Lovink [Faculty Berlin ’16]) launched their first theory-music album, titled ‘Sad by Design.’

Sad By Design is an album of music inspired and interwoven with the book of the same title by band member Geert Lovink. John Longwalker provides production across a variety of genres — from gentle ambient to a raw, nearly brutal hip hop style to anthemic acid house — in order to maximize the potential audience space. Together as We Are Not Sick, we present our first offering on our journey to make critical thinking sexy again.’

Sad by Design album release at OT301

The album launch performance can be see here, including the following Q&A with Longwalker and Lovink. The ‘sold out’ Covid-safe concert at Amsterdam’s OT301 was the third performance by the band, after its premiere at the opening of Impact Festival in Utrecht (November 15, 2019) and Transmediale in the Volksbühne theatre, Berlin (February 1, 2020).

Today’s sadness is a system, an assemblage of mind, body and techne.
Capitalist accumulation is driven by organized optimism.
Youth feel the anxiety, the stress and become sad by empty promises and diminishing opportunities. They are the experts at reading daily life through the sadness lens. This does not mean we should medicalize them.
Every situation, every object and service can and will be sad. This is why we trapped and do not see how collective action can lead to change.
Emotional rides are no longer experienced in solitude. The virtual others are always there as well.

– Excerpt from the track: … Enternetworked Psyche

The album can be found on YouTube, Spotify, iTunes, etc – with an easy full overview of all platforms here.

Download the album via Bandcamp here.

In addition, the lyrics to all the tracks can be read here on Geert’s blog.