The caretaker everywhere at the end of time

The description for Stage One reads: вЂњHere we experience the first signs of memory loss. Stage One introduced listeners to the music of 100 years ago, constructed of echoing ballroom tracks with warm record crackling etched between the sweet tunes, calling out for nostalgic memories. In a six hour long epic of 1920вЂ™s music slowly dying into distortion, Kirby, along with the artistic talents of Ivan Seal, take listeners on a trip of nostalgia and darkness, giving the young generation a glimpse into the nightmare that many have to live. The CaretakerвЂ™s вЂњ Everywhere At The End Of Time вЂќ is entering the internetвЂ™s spotlight once again, showing new viewers the true horrors of AlzheimerвЂ™s Disease. Resurging in popularity, James Leyland Kirby, a.k.a.

One hopes this next effort isnвЂ™t just another pretty loop.Photo credit: James Leyland Kirby and Ivan Seal Kirby plans to put an end to his Caretaker persona with this six-album project.

ItвЂ™s a gorgeous loop, but itвЂ™s still a loop. вЂњMy heart will stop in joyвЂќ ends the album with a soaring, echoing horn section that sounds like the pinnacle of big band ballroom romance. Did I already purchase volume three? Did I hear this volume four track before? Kirby promises that the set will chart the progress, or rather degeneration, of dementia, but as his previous work marks him as much of a conceptual artist as a musician, the collect-them-all aspect becomes insidious. Do we not repeat ourselves, to the frustrations of our loved ones and ourselves? ThatвЂ™s the gist of Everywhere at the End of Time, and while the album doesnвЂ™t lack for atmosphere, itвЂ™s essentially an album of loops, with five more coming down the pike. The concept is such that he could simply release the same record six times and chalk it up to forgetfulness.ДЇrom Proust to Marienbad to Memento, memory is a potent theme in art, its failings not only an embarrassment but a potential threat to oneвЂ™s very identity. Kirby recently told The Quietus, вЂњWouldnвЂ™t it be better to give the whole project dementia?вЂќ Thus Everywhere will be followed at semiannual intervals by successive volumes, each more sonically degraded than the next. His projects have since been variations on a theme, like the 72 mp3s that made up Theoretically Pure Anterograde Amnesia in 2005. Kirby put out his first release as The Caretaker in 1999 with work inspired by the filmвЂ™s eerie final sequence. The album continues KirbyвЂ™s long obsession with Stanley KubrickвЂ™s The Shining. Over the course of a whole album, you begin to mistrust your own memory: Did I already hear this melody on this album, or on The CaretakerвЂ™s previous work? A loop like вЂњSlightly bewilderedвЂќ is mildly disorienting, with a hint of the frustration one might get performing a piece on piano that they just canвЂ™t get right. The album can come off like a surreal version of вЂњName That TuneвЂќ is that a fragment of the standard вЂњSay it IsnвЂ™t SoвЂќ on вЂњLate afternoon driftingвЂќ? The repeating brass lines of вЂњChildishly fresh eyesвЂќ suggest barely remembered muzak, and is superficially soothing. But one wonders how much of it you really need to hear. If you havenвЂ™t heard The Caretaker before, this concept is intriguing and even beautiful. The first part of a projected six-album project, Everywhere hews fairly closely to KirbyвЂ™s 2011 album An Empty Bliss Beyond this World. He takes crackling 78s of pre-war pop and loops fragments of melodies to evoke stages of dementia. While DJs and other turntable artists generally dig crates in search for funky breaks, ambient artist James Leyland Kirby taps the pop music of a far older generation for Everywhere at the End of Time.

The caretaker everywhere at the end of time