Graduate expresses technological worries in song

By Aitor Zabalegui

It has become apparent that humans have thoroughly deterred from the path that our evolutionary lineage laid out for us. Every day, technology commandeers a little more of our functionality in an effort to make our lives easier; the result, whether intended or not, is marketable theft. Previously, the intent of technology was to broaden our abilities with creations that functioned outside of our capability. Now, we rely on technology to take the place of our physical and mental adaptation, and those creations are continually becoming easier to operate. In our goal to conquer nature, we will inevitably render ourselves completely useless.

Jack London's, "To Build a Fire," originally published during the nationalist movement of the late 19th century, chronicles a man and his dog trapped in the callous frigidity of the Yukon Trail. In the short story, the man struggles to survive by attempting to build a fire, but he is constantly thwarted by the elements of his surroundings.

Nature, the symbolic antagonist of the story, is not intent on killing the man, it just is. The man, of course, is naturally unfit for survival and begins to contemplate killing his dog to thaw himself in the animal's carcass. Too frozen to even hold his knife, the man dies and the dog trots away to a nearby camp. By his own means, the man is helpless.

Graduating last year from Santa Clara, Daniel Finfer has always been fascinated with man's technological dependence, which has greatly inspired his work in his band, Post Human Era. "To Build a Fire," the name of Post Human Era's debut album, was a productive bookend for Finfer, who has been writing and recording tirelessly over the past couple years. In addition to the album's 12 tracks, Finfer said, "I have about 300 songs that are never going to be put on albums just because they're either old or too experimental."

Post Human Era is heavily influenced by other post-rock and industrial groups such as Nine Inch Nails and Portishead, a blend found most apparent in the haunting track, "Snowblind." In fact, Finfer mentioned that the synth arpeggios that close the song were directly inspired by Portishead's "The Rip." Although Post Human Era has a distinct motif involving life after the reign of humanity, when asked if "To Build a Fire" was a concept album, Finfer replied, "Pretty much every album is a concept album. Realistically, I could release a 200-song album if people are just going to download it. The only reason albums have 14 songs is because that's how many fit onto one CD."

"To Build a Fire" was mixed back in October, but Finfer said the recording process had been complete since March. The time between, however, may have been the most productive of Finfer's infant career.

After graduation, he moved down to Los Angeles and recorded a whole new album with a new band line-up, featuring Dave Bartkoviak Jr. on bass, Stephen Kurshner on drums, Josh Stark on guitar and brother Michael Finfer handling samples, sequencers and the Kaoss pad.

Hoping not to cannibalize his debut, Finfer plans to release the as yet untitled follow-up later this year. Comparing the two records, he said, "The first album was partly autobiographical, but I tried to add an element of science fiction. The new one is entirely post-human, dealing with me talking to my future self in an attempt to prevent a huge catastrophe. It's a lot more industrial."

The band has been extremely successful thus far, with the debut topping off at number 20 on Amazon.com's electronic charts. Finfer also mentioned a pending negotiation with an independent Italian film looking to purchase the right to soundtrack a song. "If that goes through, that's my salary for the whole year," said Finfer. With nothing but good news to tell, Finfer remains humbly ecstatic over the year's achievements.

Look for "To Build a Fire" on iTunes and Amazon, and check out the band's Web site, posthumanera.com, where you can stream the entire album for free.

Contact Aitor Zabalegui at azabalegui@scu.edu or (408)-551-1918.