This is a final project for an Introduction to Digital Humanities course, where we were instructed to pursue a research question, assess data, and draw conclusions about a chosen source.
I chose Everywhere at the End of Time as the project I wanted to analyze because the albums made a huge impact on me when I first listened to them during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. I knew I wanted to spend more time with the project, especially considering what a personal experience these albums can be depending on the story of the listener.
My project itself is an analysis of the progression of the six albums, which can be found in the six pages under “Stage Analysis”. My research question for this project was “How do each of the six albums in Everywhere at the End of Time simulate the progression of Alzheimer’s Disease?”. I will be using my thoughts and observations on each album to help answer this question from a big-picture perspective.
This project is largely qualitative, as it consists of a lot of my personal opinions and reflections about what each track sounds like to me. Everywhere as a project is very open-ended, and the meaning of it will vary based on the perceptions of the individual. However, I have also included calculated data about the audio analysis of each stage.
Additionally, I will be referring to the “patient” whose experience is being simulated as “The Caretaker”. Leyland Kirby stated that while he himself does not have dementia, his alias as The Caretaker does, and Everywhere is an exploration of how this alias experiences Alzheimer’s Disease.
Through my project, I want viewers to step outside of themselves and learn about another part of the human experience that they may not have known about previously. I want people to recognize the stigmatized nature of dementia in society, and realize what a truly terrifying experience it can be to live knowing everything you used to know is slowly degrading.