Paul McCartney shared the project during a Radio 4 interview last month, revealing his plans to produce a final Beatles song with AI assistance. Speaking on using artificial intelligence to create new music, McCartney said, “It’s kind of scary but exciting, because it’s the future. We’ll just have to see where that leads.”

The track has not entirely been created through AI means however, putting fans’ minds at rest as concerns arise around the increase in artificially produced art. McCartney shared more on the process of putting this new track together, saying Peter Jackson (who created the Get Back Beatles documentary) “was able to extricate John’s voice from a ropey little bit of cassette. We had John’s voice and a piano and he could separate them with AI. They tell the machine, ‘That’s the voice. This is a guitar. Lose the guitar.”

In his Radio 4 interview, McCartney shared, “So when we came to make what will be the last Beatles record, it was a demo that John had that we worked on and we just finished it up to be released this year. We were able to take John’s voice and get it pure through this AI so that then we can mix the record, as you would normally do. So it gives you some sort of leeway. So there’s a good side to it and then a scary side.”

Ringo Starr has commented on the new song, also clarifying that it isn’t an entirely AI-driven project. Speaking to Variety, Starr shared that McCartney, himself and George Harrison had a demo of John Lennon singing that they had previously considered turning into a full song back in the 90s. The remaining band members are now taking advantage of the advanced technology on offer to them to allow them to use the original clips of Lennon’s singing.

Starr said, “It’s not down to AI. It’s not like we’re pretending anything. That is actually John’s voice, Paul’s voice and bass playing, George on rhythm guitar and me on drums. And the two things that are new are Paul’s bass and me on drums. … I really worked at it just months ago here. And it works. It’s a beautiful song. You know, for all the madness going on around it, it’s still a beautiful track. And our last track.”

When asked why they had chosen to work on the track again now, Starr said, “I don’t know. Paul must’ve had a slow day. He says, ‘You know that track we did? Do you want to work on that?‘” McCartney sent Starr the files, with Starr sharing, “I drummed on it and I sang on it” before McCartney added strings to the track with Giles Martin. Starr shared his feelings on the final Beatles track, saying, “It is moving, because the four of us are there, and there won’t be ever again.”

Starr also shared in a separate interview, “It moves me because, you know, I miss those two. But Paul and I are great friends so life goes on.”

There is currently no release date for the final Beatles track, but McCartney shared, “We hope you love it as much as we do. More news in due course.”

Been great to see such an exciting response to our forthcoming Beatles project. No one is more excited than us to be sharing something with you later in the year.

We’ve seen some confusion and speculation about it. Seems to be a lot of guess work out there. Can’t say too much…

— Paul McCartney (@PaulMcCartney) June 22, 2023

You can now listen to the 1990 demo version of ‘Cut’ taken from the 30th anniversary expanded edition of ‘Wish’. Watch the lyric video or stream now at https://t.co/YgtomT263z pic.twitter.com/UAM8DmCcpT

— The Cure (@thecure) August 26, 2022

The band had already released “Uyea Sound” from the 30^th-anniversary reissue, a song that had up until now only been available on their 1993 Lost Wishes cassette, following it up today with the demo of “Cut” to promote the upcoming release. The track was recorded during the demo sessions for Wish at Farmyard Studios in the Cotswolds. NME reported the band’s frontman Robert Smith’s thoughts on the song, “[It] was about a longstanding relationship I had that was suddenly and unexpectedly starting to fracture.” Watch the official lyric video for the demo below.

Talking to NME this may Smith confirmed that the reissue project for Wish was pretty much complete, saying: “I’ve just finished doing the ‘Wish’ remaster,  and there are so many of Simon’s [Gallup’s, bassist] demos that never got past the demo stage and remained instrumental – purely because I couldn’t think of any words for them. That’s really sad because some of them were really great!” Smith continued: “They’re all coming out as instrumentals, and I think there are about 36 unreleased songs coming out on the package. That’s the same every time we do anything. There’s always loads of music, and a lot of it is Simon’s. I just run out of words!”

On revisiting the album in 2022, he said, “There’s a side to the album which I had kind of forgotten, a very gentle, yearning thing which is quite beautiful.” Smith went on, “‘Trust’ is one of the best things we’ve ever done I think, it’s played with great feeling, and ‘To Wish Impossible Things’ is another gorgeous, melancholic piece… in fact it could well be my favourite song on the record.”

Wish was originally released in 1992, reaching Number One on the UK charts and Number Two on the US Billboard 200. The record has the singles “High”, “A letter To Elise”, and one of their most well-known songs, “Friday I’m In Love”, which reached number six on the UK charts.

Talking at the BandLab NME Awards 2022 back in March, Smith told NME that their much-anticipated new album will be called Songs Of A Lost World, explaining, “It’s got artwork, it’s got a running order, it’s almost done! They’re so slow because of vinyl, but it might come in September. I’d rather it just came out. I can’t stand the anticipation.” In May he confirmed with the magazine, “We will be playing from October and the new album will be out before then”.

The Cure will be touring UK and Ireland this December, dates are below and tickets are available here.

01/12/22 – 3Arena – Dublin
02/12 – SSE – Belfast
04/12 – OVO Hydro – Glasgow
06/12 – First Direct Arena – Leeds
07/12 – Utilita Arena – Birmingham
08/12 – Mortorpoint Arena – Cardiff
11/12 – The Wembley OVO Arena – London
12/12 – The Wembley OVO Arena  – London
13/12 – The Wembley OVO Arena   – London

The demo consists of two 14-minute long tracks, Abyss of Aching Insanity, and Beneath Black Skies, and both songs were written, recorded and produced by Coltsblood.

BEYOND THE LAKE OF MADNESS – DEMO 2013 by Coltsblood