STAGE 3 – (E+F)
(The Caretaker on Stage 3)
Here we are presented with some of the last coherent memories before confusion fully rolls in and the grey mists form and fade away. Finest moments have been remembered, the musical flow in places is more confused and tangled. As we progress some singular memories become more disturbed, isolated, broken and distant. These are the last embers of awareness before we enter the post awareness stages.
Album Cover – Stage 3
This cover may represent the oncoming confusion that arises in early stages of dementia. At this time, The Caretaker’s ability to ascertain their memories and surroundings is rapidly decaying, and the thoughts in their head become louder and more thoroughly entangled, much like the strokes of different colors in this painting.
Waveforms and Song Analysis – Stage 3
Stage 3 is incredibly loud when it comes in.
Faster tempo music, much more chaotic. Something feels very wrong. The melody is clearly echoing multiple times. It feels frantic.
This music feels like it would play at the end of the world, as the earth is burning to the ground. This song plays when the audience saw the end of the world coming, and thought the protagonist could change the final outcome. Nothing they did mattered in the end.
There isn’t a lot of clear static as the music is first playing, but it picks up later. The echoing makes the musi sound scary, like it’s playing while you’re watching a serial killer work.
The melody repeats several times, and gets worse every repetition.
E1 also cuts off in the middle of the song- it’s almost surprising.
This is a combination of multiple songs we’ve heard before.
It starts with the melody from the first track of the album (A1), but on different instruments. There is an echoed effect playing over the music, almost as if the song had a filter on it. The static has picked up, and it’s much more prominent now in the background.
The echoed effect makes it feel like the listener is an outsider looking in. It reminds me of someone standing out in the cold, looking through a window at a warm fireplace. Very wispy and mysterious. This track is familiar in the worst way. The listener can tell they’ve heard this melody before, but can’t place where it might have been from.
The transition into E3 is gradual, as the music very slowly becomes quieter until only the echo effect and the static can be heard.
Confusion settles in very quickly.
There’s a cracked heartbeat-like sound playing methodically in the background. The same short melody plays many times in-between these heartbeats.
The static in the background stops and starts randomly.
This song feels like when you struggle to remember something or do a task. This is the feeling of walking into a room to do something, then forgetting why you’re there and leaving, then repeating the process over again.
The transition to E4 is immediate and startling.
This track reuses samples from songs that’ve played before, but it feels darker and more chaotic. The backup parts play louder, and the melody is much more echoed, almost as if playing in a tunnel.
This is the feeling of watching a serial killer slowly stalk towards you. It also reminds me of an abandoned amusement park.
The song concludes naturally, and the last note fades into the static noises of E5.
This track conveys a sense of confusion right off the bat.
There is no real music, just muffled notes that barely sound like notes anymore. It’s just noise.
The static is much louder, and crackles all around the listener’s head.
The notes get louder and quieter randomly, with no real pattern to them.
It feels like listening to a toy with a broken voice box.
This track feels like a sudden panic attack in-between the musical tracks.
The transition to E6 is instant.
The music comes back and the static quiets a bit. The tempo feels slower, and the music randomly gets louder and shorter. It’s never the same volume for long.
The music itself is jazzy, and it seems like it would be fairly welcoming if not for the random volume changes, light static and echoing music.
An instant transition to E7.
Immediately creates confusion and discomfort for the listener.
This track sounds like an old music box. It’s out of tune and incredibly unsettling. The melody repeats over and over. There’s also descending scales playing quietly over and over in the background.
The static is more pronounced now that the music box is the only thing playing behind it.
A different, alarming form of static opens this track.
This song has appeared already as well. It is difficult to recall when or where it was played, as it was warped in order to seem more unfamiliar.
This version seems to be pitched down and slowed, when compared to its appearance earlier in the project. The echo filter is used here as well.
At one point the music stops completely. There is a bit of silence and confusion before it starts again.
The music cuts out suddenly to transition to F1.
This is a new song. It feels honestly a bit calming. It reminds me of winter.
It feels vaguely familiar as well. The melody jumps between two notes back and forth, which feels like a common melody.
This backup music repeats in the background of the whole track, as long, drawn-out notes play their own melody alongside it.
Cuts out instantly to play F2.
This is a spooky song, and it reminds me of Halloween. It sounds like an older piano, or an organ.
I could see this playing in the background of a spy show while trying to solve a mystery. This was likely done to convey lost memories and the mystery that surrounds The Caretaker’s life while experiencing the symptoms of dementia.
The song ends abruptly, leaving only the loud crackle of static for about 10 seconds, which can be seen in the waveform.
It sounds like the sound of cars passing by for a couple seconds. Meaningless noise and notes fade in and out of existence. It feels like you’re grasping to find meaning when there isn’t any. The notes are unrecognizable, low, echoed, and muffled.
If standing in a dark void had a soundtrack, this would be it.
The car sound continues, and the notes come in and out as they get louder and quieter.
This track is nearly indescribable.
At first I thought the music was back, but it sounded wrong. Static crackles loudly in the background. Different tracks start playing and stop just as fast. A cacophony of utter confusion and noise.
This track feels like being in a nightmare. The melody is utterly inconsistent, and it is very difficult to glean the genre, intentions or meaning behind any part of the track.
At one point the melody repeats over and over a few times at the end of the track. The patient is struggling to remember and comprehend ideas which they used to know well.
This track does sound like the sound of aching. It sounds like it’s deep underwater (or in a cavern, as the title implies). There is no melody or music being played here, simply the echoes of an empty cave. This track is very short and ends quicker than expected.
Music! This sounds like winter again. Hints of music pop in and out. It feels delightful considering what came before it. This is just a light melody. Reminds me of ballet.
The title may have been to convey how even though this track seems like a light source of bliss, there is little happiness that comes from experiencing it.
Hints of enjoyment and happiness are recalled, but the source behind them is fuzzy. The echoed filter is very prominent in this piece.
The track cuts off very suddenly, and it’s upsetting.
Incredibly upsetting compared to the last piece. Very suspenseful and eerie. It feels like something terrible is about to happen. There are hints of music, but they do not continue long enough to be comforting in the slightest.
The music is clearly recognizable as the very first track in the project. This sounds like a new, darker, echoed version of this track, played alongside samples from various other tracks from the first two stages. However, these melodies are twisted and nearly unrecognizable. Recognition blips in and out of existence.
Warped, confusing.
The title, “Libet delay”, means “the gap between being touched and the recognition of being touched”. This concept can be related to how people experiencing symptoms of dementia experience gaps in memory, or perhaps how they may take a while to respond to questions or recognize when someone is speaking to them.
This track fades out a bit before cutting out completely.
Depression. Emptiness. Indescribable. There is a single note being repeated over and over throughout the track. It feels almost angelic, but in the worst way. Disconnected music plays on-and-off in the background, cutting in and out randomly. Nothing is recognizable in the slightest.
Confusion, mourning.
Stage 3 Conclusions
In Stage 3, The Caretaker experiences a lot of entanglements in memory. Tracks become more muddled, and an echoed filter, similar to the sounds of a tunnel, is placed over much of the music. The songs themselves are drawn out and distorted in various ways.
This stage does not peak in volume as much as the first two stages, and the waveform almost looks like a constant, flowing track. There are less jumps in sound or rapid cutoffs in music.
The Caretaker appears to be struggling to recall tracks from earlier in the project, as slightly warped versions of tracks from Stage 1 make an appearance.
Listening to Everywhere while not entirely familiar with the melodies playing is likely the intended experience. This way, when the sampled music begins repeating, the listener will experience the same feeling of confusion and disorientation that Leyland Kirby is intending to simulate. They will vaguely remember having heard a distorted track before, but will not recall its origin or how the music used to sound.