https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wJWksPWDKOc
“Everywhere at the End of Time is the eleventh recording by the Caretaker, an alias of English electronic musician Leyland Kirby. Released from 2016 to 2019, its six studio albums use degrading loops of sampled ballroom music to portray the progression of Alzheimer’s disease. Inspired by the success of An Empty Bliss Beyond This World (2011), Kirby produced Everywhere as his final major work under the alias. ” – Wikipedia
Everywhere at the End of Time is a six hour album described above as an auditory representation of Dementia and Alzheimer’s. The first stage starts with old ballroom music that represents a happier and simpler time. But as the album progresses, the music distorts, clips, hiccups, muffles and as the hours slowly go by, the sounds can no longer be recognized as music. This represents a dementia patient losing touch of their memories, thoughts, and consciousness, slowly becoming nothing but a shell of their former self. It’s quite an unsettling experience to sit through, and while I definitely recommend a listen, as it is a fascinating piece of art, it is not for the faint of heart and for those who are disturbed by unconventional sounds and upsetting concepts like this.
I have taken a lot of inspiration from this album and incorporated that into my final project, probably because it’s such a powerful piece to me. I had listened to the entire album alone one night through as I was finishing my final for my horror movie class, and was trying to envelope myself in an unsettling and dreadful state of mind so I could really get into the headspace of writing a horror film premise. The album absolutely freaked me out, but emotions went beyond that of fear or discomfort. It was also calming at some points, especially during the earlier stages of the album where old-timey ballroom music is playing over an ancient record player. It was also saddening knowing the context, some parts actually made me cry for reasons I can’t fully explain. Kirby really knew how to capture the pleasant and warm feeling of old memories playing like a record in your head, but with very unsettling undertones for what’s to come. These uncomfortable feelings only rose further up to the surface as the music became more distorted and broken and eventually, unrecognizable.This is how Kirby takes listeners down a slow and dreadful decent into the mind of someone who, soon, won’t even have one anymore. Memories and mental stimulation slowly fade into disturbing jumbles and rumbles of incomprehensible noise that can only lead listeners to imagine what dementia patients go through when they start to lose grip of everything and everyone they’ve known.
My project has to do with memories and regrets. What we cherish and forget to cherish in every day life. I took inspiration from Everywhere at the End of Time, not through presentation (as it was a much more visual experience than the album), I can definitely give credit to this album for not only inspiring some of the sounds and concepts for the film, but also just helping me appreciate what I currently have, which is what truly inspired my major project topic.