Jason Jarvis


2024

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NLP Analysis of Environmental Themes in Phish Lyrics Across Concert Locations and Years
Anna Farzindar | Jason Jarvis
Proceedings of the 3rd Workshop on NLP for Music and Audio (NLP4MusA)

This study delves into the application of advanced AI and natural language processing techniques (NLP), to analyze the lyrics of Phish, a renowned American jam band. Focusing on environmental themes within their extensive repertoire, this paper aims to uncover latent topics pertaining to environmental discourse, by using the topic modeling and environmental classifier. Through meticulous preprocessing, modeling, and interpretation, our findings shed light on the multifaceted portrayal of environmental issues in Phish’s lyrics. In this study, our primary contribution lies in lyrical analysis, as well as visualization and interpretation of the topics their lyrics cover, over the forty plus years the band has existed. Our lyrical visualizations aim to facilitate an understanding of how Phish selects the timing and location for their live performances in relation to the themes present in their music.