The Internet’s Dark Alchemy: How Toadchurch’s Summer of Guns Turns Despair into Danceable Defiance
There’s a peculiar irony to the internet age: it’s a tool that can either suffocate creativity or ignite it. For most of us, it’s a digital black hole, a never-ending scroll of outrage, distraction, and existential dread. But every now and then, someone like Ande Christenson, the 21-year-old Orlando artist behind Toadchurch, emerges to remind us that even in the algorithmic wasteland, there’s raw material for something profound.
What makes Toadchurch’s new album, Summer of Guns, particularly fascinating is how it captures the duality of our digital existence. Here’s a young artist who’s acutely aware of the internet’s toxicity—its constant barrage of bad news, its design to keep us hooked and unhappy—yet he refuses to be consumed by it. Instead, he weaponizes it. Personally, I think this is where the album’s genius lies: it’s not just a collection of tracks; it’s a manifesto of defiance, a middle finger to the very systems that seek to drain us.
One thing that immediately stands out is the album’s genre-bending nature. Christenson calls it plunderphonics, a term that feels apt but doesn’t fully capture the complexity. It’s a sonic collage, sure, but it’s also a cultural one. The samples, the beats, the atmosphere—they’re all stitched together with a precision that’s both haunting and danceable. What many people don’t realize is that this kind of music isn’t just about technical skill; it’s about emotional intelligence. Christenson takes the fragments of our collective despair and transforms them into something visceral, something you can feel in your bones.
From my perspective, the album’s darker tone is its most compelling feature. It’s not just a reflection of Christenson’s personal outlook but a mirror to our times. The title itself, Summer of Guns, is a stark reminder of the violence that permeates American life. But here’s the twist: instead of wallowing in that darkness, the album uses it as fuel. The beats are sharp, the funk is hard, and the atmosphere is electric. If you take a step back and think about it, this is what art should do—not just reflect reality but challenge it, reshape it, and maybe even offer a way out.
What this really suggests is that even in the bleakest moments, there’s room for creativity, for joy, for resistance. Christenson’s ability to balance the grim with the groovy is a masterclass in contrast. The album doesn’t shy away from the heaviness of our world, but it also doesn’t let that heaviness define it. This raises a deeper question: can art ever truly be apolitical in an age where everything feels like a battleground?
A detail that I find especially interesting is the album’s origin story. Summer of Guns wasn’t even meant to be released. It was a creative exercise, a one-week challenge with his sketch-comedy group, Bogo. But when Christenson stepped back and saw what he’d created, he realized it was too powerful to keep to himself. This, to me, is the essence of Toadchurch—an artist who doesn’t overthink, who trusts his instincts, and who understands that sometimes the best art comes from letting go of expectations.
If you’re looking for a broader perspective, Summer of Guns is more than just an album; it’s a symptom of our times. It’s what happens when a generation raised on the internet decides to fight back, not with anger but with creativity. It’s a reminder that even in the age of algorithms, there’s still room for human ingenuity, for something raw and unfiltered.
In my opinion, Toadchurch’s work is a beacon for anyone who feels overwhelmed by the digital noise. It’s a call to arms, a reminder that we don’t have to be passive consumers of the internet—we can be its architects, its rebels, its alchemists. So, if you’re feeling disheartened by the world, give Summer of Guns a listen. It won’t solve all your problems, but it might just give you the energy to keep fighting.
And that, I think, is the album’s greatest achievement: it turns despair into something you can dance to.
Stream Summer of Guns on Bandcamp: https://toadchurch.bandcamp.com/album/summer-of-guns
