Chicago-based artist Joseph Schwartz dropped the “Superhuman” EP on February 6th, following the international run of “Ready for Doom,” which peaked at #2 on the Euro Indie Music Chart last year. Joseph Schwartz comes from a software background rather than a traditional music one, and he’s transparent about that. Every instrument, every vocal, every arrangement on this EP is generated through Suno AI. His role is that of a creative director: he writes the lyrics and steers the concept, and the AI handles the execution. The premise of “Superhuman” leans directly into that dynamic, the idea being that AI removes the physical constraints of human musicians and allows them to build performances that wouldn’t otherwise be possible.
The EP is structured as a deliberate genre tour. It opens with “Rock Superman,” an 80s arena rock anthem that functions as the anchor for his existing audience, then moves through a high-velocity “turbo” version of the same track, followed by Pop, Traditional Acoustic Country, Modern Country, and Folk. It’s an intentional bridge, designed to pull his core rock fanbase into unfamiliar territory one step at a time. The concept is coherent, and as a structural exercise, it’s genuinely interesting. Each variant is produced with the kind of technical polish that AI does well: clean arrangements, competent performances, nothing out of place.
That polish, though, is also where the EP runs into its central tension. Joseph Schwartz has built his reputation on sharp social and political commentary, and his lyrics carry real intent. But across six genre shifts, the AI vocals deliver all of it with the same consistent, frictionless proficiency, and that frictionlessness starts to work against the material. The genres themselves are rendered accurately enough, but they don’t carry the weight that comes from a performer actually inhabiting them. Country and folk especially tend to rely on that human specificity, the imperfections and lived-in qualities that signal authenticity, and that’s precisely what gets smoothed out here.
That said, “Superhuman” is doing something genuinely provocative, and Joseph Schwartz isn’t hiding the ball. He’s openly using AI as the instrument and asking whether the songwriting and concept can carry the emotional load on their own. It’s a fair question, and the EP is an honest attempt to answer it. Whether you find that compelling or frustrating will probably come down to how much you think the performance itself is part of the meaning.
