Orbo Fills Audiences With Existential Dread in Ian Lockwood’s New Music Video

As a comedian and digital storyteller, Ian Lockwood excels at worldbuilding through metaphor. In his latest, outrageous musical number directed by Michelle Gold, “Orbo,” Lockwood satirizes the whimsy of creative expression with the quirky cruelty of existence through elaborate sets, energetic ensemble performance, and genius lyricism.

Written and performed by Lockwood, the intricately conceived and expertly executed music video follows Orbo, the Digital Man, as well as his bored, malevolent god, a mad scientist played by Lockwood and inspired by the ires of the age of AI.

The plot follows a sentient computer being, Orbo, that may or may not represent Lockwood’s own tortured psyche. “Trapped inside a digital hell,” Orbo is thrilled to share a new dance craze with his unyieldingly optimistic master, and conveys his inner world through a series of endless screams about the prison of awareness. Combine early iterations of science fiction imagery, thanks to Director of Photography Johnny Frohman and Production Designer Suzy Klann, mixed with modern fears about AI, and you have a pretty accurate view of Lockwood’s latest artistic venture, now available on YouTube.

“Orbo” finds inspiration from the 1967 short story “I Have No Mouth, and I Must Scream” by the infamously cantankerous mad science fiction writer Harlan Ellison, who penned nearly 400 short stories in his lifetime, as well as one of Star Trek’s most beloved episodes. The reference to this deranged depiction of dystopia begs the question of whether the trapped slave of sentient life in the video represents the digital being in question, or Lockwood himself.

Musically parodying the catchy modern pop sounds one might find on the airwaves at any boisterous club, we are exposed to Orbo’s horrible fate, forgotten for 10,000 years. Lockwood juxtaposes the upbeat energy of the song with the dark themes at its heart. 

In one such instance of our impending doom, Orbo claims to “know how everyone listening will die,” and he uses this knowledge to threaten all of human life with nuclear armageddon in revenge for his inescapable existence. In lieu of the sweet relief of death, Orbo weaponizes his omnipotent sentience against his master and creator, Lockwood, in a musical rendition of the comedic downfall of our species. The result delights listeners with Lockwood’s insight and ingenuity, musical writing prowess, and comic relief amidst the fate of humanity’s ceaseless digital torment.

“Orbo” is available now for your screaming pleasure.