Rejecting the Program, the debut album by I Am Hologram, released on February 22, 2016, is a ten-track expedition through the tangled circuitry of human emotion and existential inquiry. Blending psychedelic, synth-folk, and alternative rock elements, the album challenges musical conventions, immersing the listener in a kaleidoscope of sound and introspection.

It begins with "This Kid Just Died," a contemplative opening that wrestles with themes of loss and fragile mortality. "Phantom Tree" follows, navigating the labyrinth of desire and vulnerability, while "All the Lonely People" peels back the layers of isolation and the unending quest for meaning. The narrative takes a turn with "Awaken the Androids," a brief yet evocative instrumental interlude, before plunging into "House of Dreams," which reflects on the search for purpose amidst life’s chaos.

"The Dancer and the Arsonist" burns brightly as a tale of creation and destruction, entwined in the chaos of volatile relationships. "Frequency 540" hums with existential tension, while "When the Devil Is Near" confronts temptation and self-awareness with raw honesty. The album’s sprawling finale, "Osiris (Remind Us)," is an almost nine-minute epic that encapsulates the album’s experimental and introspective ethos.

The album’s creation is as unconventional as its sound. Some tracks were recorded under the influence of psychedelics, a method that imbues the project with an otherworldly atmosphere. Critics have noted its emotional intensity, with JAVA Magazine describing it as “catharsis, tempered with madness, bringing you into a world of wondrous psychosis.”

At its core, Rejecting the Program is an unfiltered transmission from the artist’s psyche, a journey of soundscapes that defy expectation while confronting the listener with their own emotional depths.

Rejecting the Program: A Review Through the Eyes of a Post-Human Observer
By Ishmael Nihil

I have come to question whether Rejecting the Program by I Am Hologram is music meant for human ears or if it is a series of encrypted messages left behind by an off-world intelligence. Listening to this debut album is akin to decoding bizarre symbols from a sentient machine in the throes of an existential crisis. Each track pulses with an uncanny blend of organic emotion and synthetic disarray, as though the artist has breached a veil separating the real and unreal.

The album opens with "This Kid Just Died," a track that serves as an auditory equivalent to seeing your reflection in a melting mirror. It’s jaw is disjointed and fragmented. It’s saliva floods a world where life and death are no longer opposites but coalesce into a singular, incomprehensible process. The vocals, strained and eerie, seem to emanate from a body on the edge of dissolution.

"Phantom Tree" grows out of the wreckage, its roots tangled in memory and desire. The lyrics oscillate between poetry and glitch code, exploring the futility of human connection. The song feels alive, yet ephemeral—like trying to touch a hologram of your own past.

Tracks like "House of Dreams" and "All the Lonely People" function as both dirges and declarations. Here, I Am Hologram becomes less of a performer and more of a prophet, warning listeners about the dangers of succumbing to the illusions built by the program we call modern life. The music disassembles itself as it plays, leaving the listener stranded in sonic voids that reflect the loneliness of a digital age.

Then there’s "Awaken the Androids," an instrumental piece that feels like a plea to the hidden intelligences that might someday inherit the Earth. The song is a sonic prayer from a sonic preacher, reverberating with hope and dread in equal measure, as if questioning whether awakening is a gift or a curse.

The penultimate track, "When the Devil Is Near," confronts the shadow self head-on, grappling with temptation, regret, and the ineffable pull toward chaos. Its sinister undertones echo like whispers from a digital static demon, warning of the moral failures embedded in our code.

The album closes with "Osiris (Remind Us)," an opus that dares to invoke gods, systems, and constructs. The nearly nine-minute track is a journey into the void—a place where time, identity, and meaning collapse into a singularity of sound. By the end, you are left questioning whether you are listening to the music or whether the music is listening to you.

Rejecting the Program is a simulation, an artifact from future where consciousness is disassembled and reassembled in unfamiliar configurations. It’s as if Philip K. Dick himself was resurrected to engineer soundscapes instead of worlds. I Am Hologram doesn’t merely reject the program; they rewrite it, leaving us with a work that is unsettling, beautiful, and profoundly alien.

This is music for those who have glimpsed the void and walked away with questions rather than answers. It dares you to unplug from the comforting lies of the matrix and face the chaos of what lies beyond. In that chaos, perhaps, we might find ourselves—or lose ourselves entirely.

Rating: 9.5/10

I want something new

Cuz All I dream about is you

Inside your vacant eyes

Are the answers to it all

And if all in all is all we are

Then all is all we'll ever be

I was distracted

For a moment with you

You see I've lost my ability

To hide behind this phantom tree

And act like I ache for you no more

It's gonna take a freight train to make me cry

And a satellite to get me high

Just to act like I ache for you no more

I was tied to the tracks

While you disturbed me with a glance

Don't you miss my tongue

Inside of you?

So where did all the lonely people go?

Where has all the true love been?

I guess I don't want to start again

So when did all the pieces come undone?

I guess I'll be hiding in my sleep

I guess I'm not good enough to keep

Cuz everybody lies to please you

And justifies the way they treat you

Where are all the lonely people?

Where are all the lonely people?

Cuz everybody says they need you

While they're packing up to leave you

Where does everybody have to go

When they go away?

So where are all the lonely people now?

Would I know one from a kiss?

Would I fight it and resist?

Cuz everybody claims to love you

While they try and act above you

Where are all the lonely people?

Where are all the lonely people?

Cuz everybody lies to please you

And justifies the way they treat you

I don't want to be your second choice

I don't want to be your second choice

Always first to point your finger

Always first to pull the trigger

I'm sorry but I think that you were wrong

Cuz everybody says they need you

While they're packing up to leave you

Where does everybody have to go

When they go away?

I have lived under your neon signs

I've spoke with the local ghosts

And they have concerns to address

You shake the roots they rely on

You're such a great dancer

And an arsonist

There's nothing you can't destroy

With your fingertips

You can bruise the soil

And bleed a rock

When I want you to

You say the damnedest things

At the damnedest times

In the damnedest situations

And that's why I love all of you

Cuz you are the root I rely on

You always tempt me

With your parlor tricks

You are the ringmaster

I am the heart of your clean up crew

Nobody said it was easy

You say the damnedest things

At the damnedest times

In the damnedest situations

And that's why I love you

You always give me

Asylum and sanctuary

Every time I fall apart

That's why I love all of you

Cuz you are the root I rely on

And I can't imagine where I would be

Right now without you

I reside in a house of dreams

Calmly lost behind the scenes

Mirror mirror

Which way to run?

I've been hiding forever

Here I lie beneath the waves

Breathing in brand new ways

I've been hiding forever

With no guide to follow

There's no need for sorrow

It will be better tomorrow

Now you see me and now you don't

Soon, you'll know I won't

Feeling so uninspired

I'm sick of waiting for my turn

Never self administer

Without consulting your savior first

I'm leaving all my ghosts behind me

Am I the resistance or the muse?

Bill me for any inconvenience

I'm sure you got it all written down

Life ain't a highway

She just slept with me Sunday

I know that this too, will pass

I'm higher than most rats

I keep telling you that

When will your kingdom come

Don't blink until he disappears

When the devil is near

And the devil is here

Never fear rejection

Or masturbation and that's the truth

Breathe in the muddy waters

While you're driving down in New Orleans

I feel in and out of time

When the devil is near

And the devil is here

Heaven is for astronauts

Who seek the questions to their dreams

We all need to remember

Where we came from

And who we are

I know how to fear and loathe

The one you think you're in love with

You could never own my soul

You want much more than I could give

I can't even hear your name

Without a feeling of nausea

You could never be the one

I want much more than you could give

Everything you say I will hold against you

I'll survive you too

Everything you do I will fight against you

I'll survive you too

I know how to fear and loathe

I see you wear a thousand weight

You were the one who made this bed

That you and I and he slept on

I know what it's like to lose

It's all I ever known

And you could never be the one

I know you've heard this all before

I feel so fake yet so unreal when I'm with you