I heard about it last year and I meant to check it out but it slipped my mind. They said it wasn't for the faint of heart, which I believe, and that it was "life-changing," which I don't doubt. My life had just been changed by the passing of my dad, who had to live with the effects of a stroke, and feeling trapped in his brain and not being able to get ideas across (I learned to speak "Stroke") for 11 years. It would've probably hit too close to home if I'd listened to it last year, and if I listen to it now I imagine it might be rough.
It popped-up in my YouTube feed last night, as part of a video critiquing it. The channel was a guy I'd subbed a while back but hadn't seen many of his videos. From the stuff I did see I thought he was an older dude but I was surprised last night to learn that he's in his early 20-s. He's wise beyond his years, and unless he's faking it, which I doubt, quite empathic too. Just hearing him describe listening to it gave me a weird feeling of anxiousness and dread and yet curiosity, which isn't my preferred state of mind, but he described it beautifully and intelligently and with great respect.
Part of the video was a clip showing James Kirby during the undertaking of the piece. The obvious respect and sensitivity he showed were impressive, and as the YT guy said, since he put so much effort into creating it it was worth the effort to listen to it. He gave a stern warning to anyone who might want to take on the task of listening to it that if they weren't in the best frame of mind to begin with it might be best to come back to it later. I believe that too. I make no guarantee I'll make it all the way through it if I do listen to it myself.
After I watched that video the official video as it were showed up in my feed. Originally it was released on vinyl but I think those copies are sold out. It's offered completely free for streaming or download on the site. It was released in six installments between 2016 and 2019 but it really took off in September of this year when it was featured on Twitter I think and another couple of places. It has over 5,000,000 views on YT. If I'm not mistaken it only had a million when the guy did his video. I'm going to go into the YT analytics and see what the average view (listening) time is. I certainly can't see five million people listening to all six-plus hours of it.
SPOILER ALERT: If you happen to be one of the five million people with the balls to listen to the recording and you want to have a completely virgin experience, then skip the next two paragraphs. I haven't listened to the record, and this synopsis comes from the video. It starts with old-time music from the 20s and 30s, which signifies old age. as it continues it becomes more faint, and more and more random sounds creep in. Sounds pretty hardcore already.
The piece was assembles from old recordings on vinyl and even wax cylinders. Apparently as the album starts out somewhat normal, although very lo-fi, but then the familiar music starts to degrade via pops and ticks on the vinyl to the barely-audible wax cylinders. It basically turns into unfamiliar noises, signifying the loss of memories, and at the end is an Ambient piece that represents the death of the person. With things as fucked-up as they are now it's hard to say if listening to it would bring me down even more, or not make a bit of difference, or somehow be a positive experience. It's hard to say, but then again you can say that about everything these days.
To hear the guy describe the experience was heavy. It sounds depressing as fuck, but the guy said that as hard as it was to listen to at first, he got completely sucked into it, and came out on the other end a changed person. He said that it gave him a new appreciation for the good things in life, which resonates with me, and that's always a good thing. It sounds like something most people would rather endure a root canal than listen to maybe, but overall it was a positive experience for the guy, and it gave him a bigger appreciation for the condition, and what people went through. Bless their hearts.
I figured there would be some interesting comments below the main video of the record itself, and the third comment stopped me in my tracks. I'm a "comment guy" and there's so much entertainment in the comment section it's incredible. There's incredible wisdom, amazing assholes and just the dark side of humanity in general, and some of the best comedy you'll find anywhere. Some comments just trip me out and I've posted quite a few, but this one somehow takes the cake.
Out of nowhere comes this beautiful statement, to nobody and everybody. It's a shot in the dark...a cry in the wilderness and a glimpse of of humanity. Or it's completely trite, weak, stupid and useless, as some people would think. God bless them. I think it's compelling, and it made my day. We're all in this big, fucked-up boat together, yet we sail individually. We're all connected. And I'm blabbering on like the doddering and sentimental old fool I am, but I really dig this comment. So did about 600 other people so far. It was posted three days ago and already it has 609 likes and 78 replies, which is pretty impressive for a comment. It will eventually have thousands of likes. Whomever you are, I hear you. God bless you.
"Don't ever forget me, please. We will never meet in this big cruel world, but this is the only moment, the only couple seconds you will hear from me. I wish you good luck in your journey on this world, and maybe, but maybe we will hear again from each other. Make the best out of it as long as you can. Love you."
Amen.
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