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Everywhere at the End of Time

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Everywhere at the end of time
A grey, unrevalling newspaper scroll resting on a blue gradient horizon.
Cover art for Stage 1
Studio album series by
Released
  • 22 September 2016 (2016-09-22) (Stage 1)
  • 6 April 2017 (2017-04-06) (Stage 2)
  • 28 September 2017 (2017-09-28) (Stage 3)
  • 5 April 2018 (2018-04-05) (Stage 4)
  • 20 September 2018 (2018-09-20) (Stage 5)
  • 14 March 2019 (2019-03-14) (Stage 6)
StudioHome recording in Krakow, Poland
Genre
Length390:31
LabelHistory Always Favours the Winners
ProducerLeyland Kirby
The Caretaker chronology
Extra Patience (After Sebald)
(2012)
Everywhere at the end of time
(2016–2019)
Everywhere, an Empty Bliss
(2019)

Everywhere at the End of Time[a] is the eleventh recording by the Caretaker, an alias of English electronic musician Leyland Kirby. Released from 2016 to 2019, its six studio albums depict the progression of dementia by degrading loops of ballroom recordings. Inspired by the success of An Empty Bliss Beyond This World (2011), Kirby recorded Everywhere as his final work under the alias. He produced the albums in Krakow over six-month periods to "give a sense of time passing", using abstract paintings by his friend Ivan Seal. The series drew comparisons to composer William Basinski and electronic musician Burial, with the later stages being influenced by avant-gardist John Cage.

The complete edition consists of a six and a half hour long work that presents a range of emotions, and is characterised by noise. The last three stages depart from Kirby's earlier ambient works, while the first three are similar to An Empty Bliss. The music depicts the patient's disorder and death, their feelings and the phenomenon of terminal lucidity. To promote the series, Kirby partnered with visual artist Weirdcore for music videos. He at first thought of not creating Everywhere at all, expressing concern about whether the series would be a pretentious idea; Kirby spent more time producing the series than any other release of his. The album covers received coverage from a French art exhibition named after the Caretaker's Everywhere, an Empty Bliss (2019), a compilation of unused work.

As each stage was released, the series received increasingly positive reviews from critics, who felt emotional about the complete edition, given its long length and dementia-driven concept. Everywhere at the End of Time is considered to be Kirby's magnum opus, and became an Internet phenomenon in 2020, appearing on TikTok videos as a six-and-a-half-hour listening challenge. Some critics described it as a dark album, similar to contemporary creepypasta. Caregivers of people with dementia also praised the albums as they increased empathy for carers among younger listeners.

Background[]

A white man of the 1930s stands at an early-20th-century microphone
Al Bowlly, a big band artist extensively sampled on Everywhere at the End of Time

English electronic musician Leyland Kirby sampled big band records under the pseudonym the Caretaker. Kirby drew influence from the haunted ballroom scene of filmmaker Stanley Kubrick's work The Shining (1980), as heard on the Caretaker's debut album Selected Memories from the Haunted Ballroom (1999).[1] His first records featured the ambient style that would be prominent in his last releases.[2] The Caretaker would first explore memory loss with Theoretically Pure Anterograde Amnesia (2005), a three-hour long album portraying the disease of the same name. By 2008, Persistent Repetition of Phrases saw Kirby's work gaining critical attention and a larger fanbase.[1]

In 2011, Kirby released An Empty Bliss Beyond This World, attaining critical acclaim for its exploration of dementia.[1] Kirby explained he initially did not desire to produce more music as the Caretaker after that. However, he said "so many people liked An Empty Bliss. So I thought to myself, 'What can I do that's not just An Empty Bliss again?'" Kirby felt the only concept to explore would be "stages of dementia."[2] It would be his final release as the Caretaker; Kirby said, "I just can't see where I can take it after this." Everywhere at the End of Time represents the "death" of the Caretaker alias, with all "memories" of the project starting the process of "cropping up" on Stage 3.[1] Musician James Webster from vaporwave group death's dynamic shroud.wmv called An Empty Bliss Kirby's "turning point" into Everywhere, citing the album's "simulator" feel as the cause of this.[3]

Music and stages[]

"For to be capable of remembering this music as a real-time, living culture, you'd have to be in your nineties now. What Kirby presents here could be heard as the faint, faded memory-fragments of once-beloved tunes as they waver on in atrophying minds."[4]

Simon Reynolds

The project depicts a person with dementia and their feelings.[5][6][7] Ideas of deterioration, melancholy, confusions, and abstractness are present.[8] Tiny Mix Tapes suggested that, as the Caretaker's swan song, Everywhere "threatens at every moment to give way to nothing."[9] The albums are primarily ambient, with an avant-gardist concept and an experimental style.[10][11][12]

The series' exploration of dementia has drawn comparisons to The Disintegration Loops (2002–2003) by musician William Basinski.[2][8][13] However, as viewed by Spectrum Culture's Holly Hazelwood, Kirby's work does not focus on physical decay, while that record does.[8] Kirby said he praises Basinski's works but insisted his own "aren't just loops breaking down. They're about why they're breaking down, and how."[2] Fellow electronic musician, Burial's style has been compared to the sound of Everywhere.[8][14] Author Matt Colquhoun wrote for The Quietus that Burial and the Caretaker "highlight the 'broken time of the twenty-first century.'"[14] Throughout, certain samples return constantly—in particular, a cover of "Heartaches" (1931) by Al Bowlly—and become more degraded with each album.[8] In the last six minutes, a song from Selected Memories can be heard.[15]

With each stage, the songs get more distorted, reflecting the memory and its deterioration.[16] The jazz style of the first three stages is reminiscent of An Empty Bliss, with loops from vinyl records and wax cylinders. On Stage 3, the songs are shorter—some lasting for only one minute—and typically avoid fade-outs.[8][12] The Post-Awareness stages reflect Kirby's desire to "explore complete confusion, where everything starts breaking down."[11] The two penultimate stages present chaos in their music, representing the patient's altered perception of reality.[17] The final stage consists of drones, portraying the emptiness of the patient.[13] It features an organ, choral, and a minute of silence in the last 15 minutes, depicting death.[13][18] Miles Bowe of Pitchfork wrote about the contrast of the later stages to Kirby's other ambient works as "evolving its sound in new and often frightening ways."[19] Kirby described the series to be "more about the last three [stages] than the first three."[2]

Stages 1–3[]

Everywhere at the End of Time – Stages 1–3
A collage of an unravelling scroll, a flower pot, and a distorted vase.
From left to right: Beaten Frowns After (2016), Pittor Pickgown in Khatheinstersper (2015) and Hag (2014)
Box set by
Released
  • 22 September 2016 (2016-09-22) (Stage 1)
  • 6 April 2017 (2017-04-06) (Stage 2)
  • 28 September 2017 (2017-09-28) (Stage 3)
Genre
Length
  • 41:23 (Stage 1)
  • 41:54 (Stage 2)
  • 45:35 (Stage 3)
The Caretaker chronology
Extra Patience (After Sebald)
(2012)
Everywhere at the End of Time – Stages 1–3
(2016–2017)
Take Care. It's a Desert Out There...
(2017)
Audio sample
A1 – "It's Just a Burning Memory"[b]
  • file
  • help

According to Kirby, Stage 1 depicts the initial signs of memory deterioration. He describes it as "like a beautiful daydream."[20] Like An Empty Bliss,[21] it features the opening seconds of records from the 1920s and '30s looped for long lengths. Its samples present pitch changes, reverberation, overtones, vinyl crackle, and abrupt endings.[22] The album features a range of emotions, mostly by the notions its song titles invoke.[8][23] Despite being an upbeat release by the Caretaker,[24] some of its joyful big band compositions are more distorted than normal.[21][25] One reviewer likened it to Stanley Kubrick's Eyes Wide Shut (1999) and the works of filmmaker Woody Allen, specifying the "elegance" on Kubrick's film and the drama on Allen's work.[26] In contrast with the first stage's joyful sound, Kirby described the second stage as "a massive difference between the moods."[1]

Kirby said that Stage 2 depicts the "self-realisation...that something is wrong with a refusal to accept that."[20] The album features a more emotional tone than Stage 1, with more melancholic, degraded and droning-like samples.[8][27][28] Its source material features more sudden stops, exploring a hauntological ambiance; writing for Tiny Mix Tapes, Frank Falisi compared it to the bathroom scene of The Shining rather than the ballroom one, where "Grady [is] in the bathroom wiping Jack's coat".[28] The track titles present more somber themes, with names such as "Surrendering to Despair", "Last Moments of Pure Recall" and "The Way Ahead Feels Lonely". They represent the patient's awareness of their disorder and the sorrow accompanying it. The songs play for longer times and feature fewer loops, but are more deteriorated in clarity.[8] They focus on the patient's realisation that there may be something wrong with their memories and how they recall them.[29] Kirby described the second stage as the one where "[y]ou probably try and remember more than you usually would".[1]

Stage 3, according to Kirby, evokes "some of the last coherent memories before confusion fully rolls in and the grey mists form and fade away."[20] Samples from other works, such as those of An Empty Bliss, return with an underwater sound, portraying the patient's growing despair and struggle to keep their memories. While other stages presented common fade-outs on tracks, songs of Stage 3 end abruptly. The track titles become more abstract, often combining titles of tracks from previous stages, with names such as "Hidden Sea Buried Deep", "To the Minimal Great Hidden", and "Burning Despair Does Ache". The record focuses on the patient's awareness, being the most similar to An Empty Bliss in the entire series.[8] Kirby echoed this sentiment, explaining Stage 3 is "the most like An Empty Bliss because it's the blissful stage where you're unaware you've actually got dementia."[2] According to Kirby, Stage 3 represents "the last embers of awareness before we enter the post awareness stages."[20]

The opening track of the series, "It's Just a Burning Memory", introduces the sample of Al Bowlly's "Heartaches" that gets degraded throughout the series;[8] according to Kirby, Bowlly is "one of the main guys" sampled by him.[2] In the third track of Stage 2, "What Does It Matter How My Heart Breaks", "Heartaches" returns with a lethargic style,[8] a result of using a sample from a slower rendition by Seger Ellis. This version, in contrast to its Stage 1 counterpart, sounded downbeat to Kirby.[1] By the third stage, there is the last coherent version of "Heartaches" on "And Heart Breaks", where its horn aspects become more similar to white noise.[8] The songs sampling "Heartaches" take their title from the song's lyrics, which surround themes of memory; Bowlly sings, "I can't believe it's just a burning memory / Heartaches, heartaches / What does it matter how my heart breaks?".[30]

Stages 4–6[]

Everywhere at the End of Time – Stages 4–6
A collage of a blue bust of a woman, a ballerina on a staircase, and a blank canvas.
From left to right: Giltsholder (2017), Eptitranxisticemestionscers Desending (2017) and Necrotomigaud (2018)
Box set by
Released
  • 5 April 2018 (2018-04-05) (Stage 4)
  • 20 September 2018 (2018-09-20) (Stage 5)
  • 14 March 2019 (2019-03-14) (Stage 6)
Genre
Length
  • 87:20 (Stage 4)
  • 88:20 (Stage 5)
  • 85:57 (Stage 6)
The Caretaker chronology
Take Care. It's a Desert Out There...
(2017)
Everywhere at the End of Time – Stages 4–6
(2018–2019)
Everywhere, an Empty Bliss
(2019)
Audio samples
H1 – "Post Awareness Confusions"
  • file
  • help
R1 – "Place in the World Fades Away"
  • file
  • help

Kirby said Stage 4 is the album where "the ability to recall singular memories gives way to confusions and horror."[20] It presents a style more akin to noise, as opposed to the first three stages which featured the same style of An Empty Bliss.[8] Marking the start of the "Post-Awareness" stages,[31][32] its compositions occupy whole vinyl sides.[33] They present clinical names: three of them—G1, H1, and J1—titled "Post Awareness Confusions" and one of them—I1—titled "Temporary Bliss State". The incoherent melodies introduce a surreal aspect to the series, preparing the listener for the last two stages.[17][19] Most compositions ignore the alias' aspects, presenting far more distortion than in previous stages. However, "Temporary Bliss State" is a track calmer than the "Post Awareness Confusions", featuring a more ethereal sound. The album's ambiance has been likened by Bowe to experimental musician Oval's 1995 album 94 Diskont,[19] and Hazelwood likened the album's sound to a listenable chaos.[8]

Stage 5, according to Kirby, has "more extreme entanglements, repetition and rupture [that] can give way to calmer moments."[20] The album expands its noise influence, with a similarity to musicians such as Merzbow and John Wiese. In it, coherent melodies lose their significance, being replaced by overlapped samples. Hazelwood interpreted it as "a traffic jam in audio form", likening it to neurons that become filled with beta amyloids, and The record differs heavily from previous albums,[8] with its source material sometimes being reduced to a whisper. According to Falisi, it does not have a sense of comfort; contrary to Stage 1's first signs, Stage 5 presents complete disorder.[34] It is the first stage to present recognizable English voices; in the middle of the opening track, a man announces, "This selection will be a mandolin solo by Mr. James Fitzgerald."[35] In line with Stage 4, Stage 5's track titles are clinical in nature, and feature references to aspects of the brain and neurodegenerative disorders, such as plaque, entanglements, synapses, and the retrogenesis hypothesis. Hazelwood described track titles like "Advanced Plaque Entanglements" and "Synapse Retrogenesis", as "inhumane".

Previous stages included specific descriptions on the themes of each individual album, but the final stage lacks one, consisting of a single sentence: "Post-Awareness Stage 6 is without description."[20] Although Stage 5 had snippets of instruments, Stage 6 features empty compositions and has no detail, which Hazelwood interpreted as representing the patient's empty feelings. Rather than the previously clinical names, the song titles on the final record feature more emotional phrases, such as "A Brutal Bliss Beyond This Empty Defeat".[8] It does not present Kirby's sound as the Caretaker, portraying the patient's anxiety.[13] Rather than the voices of Stage 5, the album has sounds of hiss and crackling;[36] in general, it consists of sound collages where the music is listenable, although distant.[18][37] After the release of Stage 6, Kirby announced: "Thanks for the support through the years. May the ballroom remain eternal. C'est fini."[c][20]

Finishing the series, the organ drones before the last minutes of "Place in the World Fades Away" cut out to a needle drop.[8][13][18] The climax of Everywhere, six minutes before the project's end, features a clear choral sourced from a degraded vinyl record.[13] The series ends with a minute of silence, representing the death of the patient. The moment evoked different interpretations from commentators: Hazelwood suggested it depicts terminal lucidity, a phenomenon where patients experience clarity briefly before death,[8] while Falisi has written about it as portraying the patient's soul moving to the afterlife. He clarified that "you don't have to believe in anything to think there might be sounds beyond our being."[36] The press release that accompanied the boxed set of Stages 4-6 called this moment "a final coda that breaks the fourth wall".[38] The last six minutes sample the aria "Lasst Mich Ihn Nur Noch Einmal Küssen" ("Just Let Me Kiss Him One More Time") of the St Luke Passion, BWV 246. The song was also used on the Caretaker's Selected Memories album on the track "Friends Past Reunited".[15]

Production[]

Kirby produced Everywhere at the End of Time at his flat in Krakow[2] using a computer "designed specifically for the production of music". Due to his prolific way of working, he made more tracks for the first stage alone than in the alias' entire history.[1] The albums were produced a year before they were released, with the creation of Stage 3 starting in September 2016 and Stage 6 in May 2018.[1][39] Kirby stated the first three stages have "subtle but crucial differences," as they present the same general style and are "based on the mood and the awareness that a person with the condition would feel."[40] Kirby wanted the mastering process, as done by "Lupo", to be "consistent sounding all the way through". He said a "strategy" was to use covers of the same samples to achieve certain emotional messages with each. Rather than buying records at physical stores as with An Empty Bliss, Kirby was able to "find a lot of this music online [...]. It's possible to find ten versions of one song now." He stated the first and second albums have "an interesting switch", as he did not loop short sections of samples as with the first stage. Instead, he would let songs play in full and strip certain sections away, not always composing them of small loops. Kirby likened the third stage the most to An Empty Bliss. Kirby said the first three stages may be listened on shuffle due to their similarities. He also said that the intention of the first albums was for them to feature interchangeable compositions.[1]

Kirby said his production focus was on the last three stages.[1][2][41] One challenge he faced in their creation was making "listenable chaos." Kirby added that, while producing Stage 4, he realised that the final three stages "had to be made from the viewpoint of post-awareness." Explaining the name, Kirby titled them "Post-Awareness" because they are when the patient is not aware of a disorder—anosognosia.[40] Kirby reported a feeling of pressure while working on the final three stages, saying, "I'd be finishing one stage, mastering another, all whilst starting another stage." In composing the fourth and fifth stages, Kirby claimed he possessed over 200 hours of music and "compiled it based on mood".[41] The Believer's Landon Bates likened Stage 4 to "Radio Music" (1956) by composer John Cage, to which Kirby responded that Cage's aleatoric music was employed in the later stages.[40] He said Stage 5 has "a distinct change" when compared to Stage 4, writing that "it's not immediate but it's a crucial symptom." Kirby said what he was interested in for Stage 6 was removing specific frequencies of the samples, which many modern software is capable of.[1] According to Kirby, the production of the final stage was the hardest, as "the weight of the previous five falls all on this now."[40]

Artwork and packaging[]

"You can't trust any memories at all, can you? Because it's all glitched [and] nonsense in a way."[42]

Ivan Seal

The album covers for Everywhere at the End of Time are abstract oil paintings by Kirby's long-time friend Ivan Seal.[43] They are minimalist in style, presenting a single object in a featureless room with no text.[25] Tiny Mix Tapes included Beaten Frowns After—the artwork for Stage 1—in two listings of the best album covers of 2016 and of the 2010s.[44][45] Kirby and Seal were born in England and became friends in Berlin; they present similarities in the way they produce art.[43] Seal paints objects based on his memory, saying that "painting like this works more like a brain".[42] Vaporwave artist Justin Wharton concluded that "the music and the art truly just go hand in hand."[3]

A white man with a hat looks up
Ivan Seal, the friend of Kirby who created the album covers

The paintings used for the album covers of stages one, two and three are titled Beaten Frowns After (2016), Pittor Pickgown in Khatheinstersper (2015) and Hag (2014), respectively.[46][47] Beaten Frowns After features a grey unravelling scroll on a vacant horizon, with newspaper folds similar to a brain's creases.[25] Pittor Pickgown in Khatheinstersper portrays four wilting flowers in an abstract vase;[48] according to Falisi, the object represents "the only thing behind our bodies", which Beaten Frowns After depicts as ourselves.[28] Hag presents an object distorted to an extreme, which Sam Goldner of Tiny Mix Tapes described as "a vase spilling out into ripples of disorder."[48]

The paintings for stages four, five and six are respectively titled Giltsholder (2017), Eptitranxisticemestionscers Desending (2017) and Necrotomigaud (2018).[47] Giltsholder is the first artwork to depict a human figure in the form of a blue and green bust, although it has unrecognizable facial features. According to Goldner, the figure seems to be smiling if viewed from a distance.[48] Eptitranxisticemestionscers Desending portrays an abstract mass bursting from a marble-like staircase. Hazelwood interpreted it as representing the patient's mind; although it once presented experiences, it is now unrecognizable.[8] Necrotomigaud presents the back of a canvas, depicting the patient's emptiness on Stage 6.[18]

Seal's paintings and the Caretaker's music were featured in the 2019 French art exhibition Everywhere, an Empty Bliss by the company FRAC Auvergne, which featured music by Kirby and the names of the album covers.[46][47][49] The company later released a promotional video on YouTube, announcing that the exhibition would be held between 6 April and 6 June 2019.[50] Previously, Seal's paintings were featured near one of Kirby's performances in the 2019 exhibition Cukuwruums. The organisers were searching for unusual venues, a common theme in the festival. They found an old flat from 2014, of which Seal said "nothing should be cleared up—there would be no brushing up." The exhibition was first built as part of the festival, but after that, it remained open.[43]

In 2018, when asked why the digital pages of the album presented the concept in detail but the physical packaging did not include text, Kirby said that Seal's paintings are important to each stage, and he was happy Seal allowed them to be used as the album covers. Writing of the overlap between their artistic visions, Kirby saw a correlation of works, as both "collide in a great way." He believed his descriptions may distract from this, as they are in digital form for listeners that "search a little deeper."[40]

Release and promotion[]

A building with a circular shape.
The Krakow Barbican, where Kirby performed in 2017 in promotion of Everywhere at the End of Time

Kirby thought of not producing the series at all. Six months before the release of the first stage, he talked about it to other people, explaining he "wanted to be sure it didn't come across as this highbrow, pretentious idea."[1] The albums were released throughout three years: the first stage in 2016,[51][52] the next two in 2017,[53][54][55] the penultimate two in 2018,[56][57][58] and the final one in 2019.[59][60][61] According to Kirby, the delay between the releases was made to give a sense of time passing.[1] Although he expressed concern with dementia as a social problem, Kirby has said the disorder does not affect him "at a personal level", calling it "more of a fascination than a fear".[2][40][41] When asked what studies about dementia interest him the most, Kirby stated, "To me it's all interesting." He noticed each experience with dementia as unique, asserting, "this version I've made is only unique to the Caretaker."[41] Kirby stated that his music has not been made available on Spotify due to the "constant devaluing of music by big business and streaming services."[62]

When he released the first stage on 22 September 2016, Kirby announced the concept of the series,[63] stating that the albums would reveal "progression, loss and disintegration" as they fell "towards the abyss of complete memory loss". Some critics were confused by these statements;[64] Jordan Darville of The Fader wrote an article reporting that Kirby was diagnosed with early-onset dementia. Tiny Mix Tapes' Marvin Lin did the same, but both publications updated their posts when Kirby clarified the situation.[65][66] Kirby stated in an email to Pitchfork that he himself did not have dementia; only the project did. He added that there should not be confusion and "it's not intentional if there is any."[64] In releasing Stage 5, Kirby's press release spoke about comparisons of the series' progression to the then-ongoing Brexit process.[67] The Caretaker's final record, released alongside Stage 6, was Everywhere, an Empty Bliss (2019), a compilation album of unused work.[68][69][70] While releasing Stage 6, Kirby noted and described the concept further.[12]

Stage 6 release note

"When work began on this series it was difficult to predict how the music would unravel itself. Dementia is an emotive subject for many and always a subject I have treated with maximum respect.

Stages have all been artistic reflections of specific symptoms which can be common with the progression and advancement of the different forms of dementia.

Thanks always for your support of this series of works remembered by The Caretaker."[12]

Leyland Kirby

Visual artist Nicky Smith, under the alias Weirdcore, created music videos for the first two stages.[71][72] Released in September 2016 and 2017, they have effects such as time stretching and delay experimentations. He was known for creating visuals for ambient musician Aphex Twin.[73] Kirby said the visuals of Weirdcore are important to his music, calling them "another World within the World."[40] Weirdcore's visuals were later presented with Kirby's music in a video titled [−0º], in 2020.[74] It was chosen as one of the best audiovisual works of the year by Fact.[75]

In December 2017, Kirby performed at the Krakow Barbican for the Unsound Festival in Poland. His first show since 2011, it featured Seal's art, Weirdcore's visuals and Kirby drinking whisky.[76][77][78] The music videos would be presented throughout the Caretaker's following shows. Kirby was later featured at the  [fr] in 2018,[79] where he played a coherent version of the 1944 song "Ce Soir" ("Tonight, All Seems Blue and Dark") by singer Tino Rossi.[39] He participated in the "Solidarity" Unsound show in May 2019.[80] In 2020, he performed live for the last time at the "[Re]setting" Rewire Festival, which would occur in April at The Hague in the Netherlands.[81][82] Kirby is expected to perform at the Primavera Sound festival in 2022.[83] Previously expressing hesitation to perform,[2] Kirby would now make each show be "a battle to make sense from the confusion". He mentioned that the visual art would explore the idea of making the public "feel ill."[41]

Critical reception[]

Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
 [it]7/10 (Stage 1)[26]
8/10 (Stage 6)[37]
Pitchfork7.3/10 (Stage 1)[22]
7.9/10 (Stage 4)[19]
Resident Advisor4.3/5 (Stage 6)[18]
Tiny Mix Tapes4/5 stars (Stage 1)[25]
3.5/5 stars (Stage 2)[28]
4.5/5 stars (Stage 4)[48]
3.5/5 stars (Stage 5)[34]
4.5/5 stars (Stage 6)[36]

Everywhere at the End of Time received increasingly positive reception as it progressed,[1][13] with Kirby expanding on the themes of An Empty Bliss.[11] In March 2021, it peaked as the best-selling record on Boomkat,[84] the platform Kirby uses for his physical releases.[20] As of that month, it remained Bandcamp's best-selling dark ambient record.[85] Initially, in what he called "today's culture of instant reaction", Kirby expected the public to say "it's just the same, he's just looping parts of big band records". He opposed to these expected opinions; when releasing Stage 1, Kirby said, "these parts have been looped for a specific reason [...] which will become clear down the line."[1]

The first three stages of the series were criticised for their depiction of dementia. Pitchfork contributor Brian Howe expressed concern that the first stage may be a romanticised, if not exploitative, view of a mental illness. He found Kirby's description inaccurate; Howe "watched [his] grandmother succumb to it for a decade before she died, and it was very little like a 'beautiful daydream.' In fact, there was nothing aesthetic about it."[22] Pat Beane of Tiny Mix Tapes considered Stage 1 the most "pleasurable listen from [t]he Caretaker",[25] although Falisi regarded Stage 2 as neither "decay or beauty", "diagnosis or cure."[28] In 2021, Hazelwood described Stage 3 as Kirby's default "bag of tricks", but argued that these "are essential to the journey"; he followed this up by naming the first three stages "easily-digested", calling one's perception of time with them as "so fast. Almost too fast." In his opinion, "without those stages and their comforts, the transition into Stage 4 wouldn't have the crushing impact it does."[8]

The evocations of dementia on the last three stages was described by several critics as better, although some felt this was not the case. Bowe described Stage 4 as avoiding "a risk of pale romanticization",[19] and Goldner felt that the record had "broken the loop", although he added that "Temporary Bliss State" is not "real dementia".[48] Falisi, writing about Goldner, was critical of Stage 5, considering the loop to be "unspooling (endlessly) off the capstans and piling up until new shapes form." He described the sound of the album as "the uncanny choke of absence", and argued, "If the thing is gone, why do I still feel it?"[34] Stage 6 received more praise, with charactiersations ranging from "a mental descent rendered in agonizingly slow motion,"[18] to "something extra-ambient whose aches are of the cosmos."[36] Critics often described Stage 6 with additional praise, with one calling it a "jaw-dropping piece of sonic art" with "a unique force".[18][86]

Critics have also commented on the feelings given by the complete edition, with writers such as Dave Gurney of Tiny Mix Tapes citing it as disturbing.[87] More generally, it has been asserted that the work is depressing, with Hazelwood claiming that "the music of Everywhere sticks with you, its melodies haunting and infecting."[8] Luka Vukos, in his review for the blog HeadStuff, argued that the "empathy machine" of the series "is characterised not by words", and its acclaim "rests in [Kirby's] marrying of [the vinyl record] with the most contemporary modes of digital recall and manipulation."[15] Having written about some of Kirby's earlier music, Simon Reynolds said the Caretaker "could have renamed himself the Caregiver, for on this project he resembles a sonic nurse in a hospice for the terminally ill." In his opinion, "titles are heartbreaking and often describe the music more effectively than the reviewer ever could."[4]

Accolades[]

Everywhere at the End of Time appeared the most on year-end lists of The Quietus and Tiny Mix Tapes. Except for Stage 3, the latter reviewed each album and gave the first, fourth and sixth stages the "EUREKA!" award, usually given to albums that explore the limits of noise and music and are "worthy of careful consideration".[25][48][36] Resident Advisor included Stage 6 on its listing of "2019's Best Albums".[88] Quietus contributor Maria Perevedentseva chose "We Don't Have Many Days" as one of the best songs of 2016;[89] Stage 5 would later be included on the publication's listing of the best music in September 2018.[90] Stage 6 was later named the website's "Lead Review" of the week and the best miscellaneous music release of 2019.[13][91]

Accolades for Everywhere at the End of Time
Album Year Publication List Rank Ref.
Stage 1 2016 The Quietus Year-end 16 [92]
Tiny Mix Tapes 35 [93]
Stage 2 2017 The Quietus Semester-end 88 [94]
Stage 3 Year-end 39 [95]
Stage 4 2018 Tiny Mix Tapes 26 [96]
The Quietus Semester-end 37 [97]
Stage 5 Year-end 45 [98]
Stage 6 2019 Semester-end 59 [99]
Obscure Sound Year-end 19 [100]
 [it] 38 [101]
Stages 1–6 A Closer Listen Decade-end 4 [102]
Tiny Mix Tapes 41 [87]
Ondarock 42 [103]
Stages 4–6 The Wire Year-end 35 [104]

Impact and popularity[]

Considered by some to be among the best albums of the 2010s,[87][105] Everywhere at the End of Time is considered by several critics and musicians to be Kirby's magnum opus.[3][106][107] One reviewer singled out the two penultimate stages, the most ambient-driven ones, as making listeners reflect on the feeling of having dementia.[17] Conceptually, Everywhere received universal acclaim: the portrayal of dementia was described by The Vinyl Factory as "remarkably emotive" and by Vogue's Corey Seymour as "life-changing",[6][108] with a Tiny Mix Tapes writer highlighting Stage 6 as "going fully corny in its final minutes".[109] Inspired by the Caretaker,[110] the fan-made 100-track album Memories Overlooked was released in 2017 by vaporwave musicians whose elder relatives had dementia.[111][112][113] On 24 August 2021, to celebrate International Strange Music Day created by composer Patrick Grant, Everywhere at the End of Time was included in a list of Portuguese journal Espalha Factos that featured "records that present an out of the ordinary sound experience".[114] Pedro Caldeira of  [pt] called the series "an extremely ambitious album" with a "perfect" execution, adding that "context is the right word to describe the experience of listening to this six and a half hour album."[115]

A table with books on the center and a lamp on the left.
The album cover of Memories Overlooked (2017)
A yellow and white text, reading "THIS ALBUM WILL BREAK YOU".
Text from the thumbnail of a YouTube video about Everywhere at the End of Time
In 2017, musicians whose elder relatives had dementia created Memories Overlooked, a 100-track album inspired by Everywhere.[112] In 2020, Internet users would popularise the series for its "breaking" depiction of dementia, and insert creepypasta-esque elements to it.[11]

In 2020, users on the social media platform TikTok created a challenge to listen to the entire series in one sitting, due to its dementia-related concept.[116] Kirby asserted he knew about the phenomenon by noting an exponential growth of views on the series' YouTube upload (over 17 million as of October 2021);[20] only 12% of them came from the platform's algorithm, whereas direct searches made up for over 50%.[105][117] In a video some writers hypothesised as the cause of Everywhere's popularity, one YouTuber called the series "the darkest album I have ever heard".[11][118] Brian Browne, the president of Dementia Care Education, praised the attention given to the series, calling it "a much welcome thing, because it produces the empathy that's needed."[10] Following its popularity, the series appeared often on Bandcamp's ambient recommendations, which Arielle Gordon of Bandcamp Daily attributed to the "serene" deterioration of the stages.[119]

There were fictional creepypasta stories of the series shared on TikTok, with claims that it cures patients.[d][120] This triggered negative backlash from others, who felt this would turn the series into a meme and offend patients.[10][11][118] However, Kirby did not feel the challenge was offensive to the process of dementia.[105] He expressed a desire to be authentic while the record's popularity continued.[117] Everywhere was later called by TikTok a niche discovery and "unexpected hit" in a report for Variety.[121] Ultimately, Kirby saw the series as giving teenagers "an understanding into the symptoms a person with dementia may face." He believed it may also give to a young public the view that "music can be an experience".[105]

Throughout late 2020 and 2021, Everywhere inspired various albums with similar themes, such as a Minecraft version.[3] In 2021, the Vinyl Factory's Lazlo Rugoff found the TikTok phenomenon to draw "an unlikely audience" of teenagers to Kirby's music; he identified the record's popularity as their "vector for understanding dementia."[116] The same year would see Everywhere at the End of Time gain attention among the modding community of the rhythm game Friday Night Funkin', with the mod Everywhere at the End of Funk being described by Wren Romero of GAMURS Group's Gamepur as "one of the most unique experiences of any FNF mod."[122]

Track listing[]

Adapted from Bandcamp.[12] Total lengths and notes adapted from Kirby's YouTube uploads of Stages 1–3,[71][72][123] Stages 4–6,[35][124][125] and the complete edition.[20]

Stage 1
No.TitleLength
1."A1 – It's Just a Burning Memory"3:32
2."A2 – We Don't Have Many Days"3:30
3."A3 – Late Afternoon Drifting"3:35
4."A4 – Childishly Fresh Eyes"2:58
5."A5 – Slightly Bewildered"2:01
6."A6 – Things That Are Beautiful and Transient"4:34
7."B1 – All That Follows Is True"3:31
8."B2 – An Autumnal Equinox"2:46
9."B3 – Quiet Internal Rebellions"3:30
10."B4 – The Loves of My Entire Life"4:04
11."B5 – Into Each Others Eyes"4:36
12."B6 – My Heart Will Stop in Joy"2:41
Total length:41:23
Stage 2
No.TitleLength
13."C1 – A Losing Battle Is Raging"4:37
14."C2 – Misplaced in Time"4:42
15."C3 – What Does It Matter How My Heart Breaks"2:37
16."C4 – Glimpses of Hope in Trying Times"4:43
17."C5 – Surrendering to Despair"5:03
18."D1 – I Still Feel As Though I Am Me"4:07
19."D2 – Quiet Dusk Coming Early"3:36
20."D3 – Last Moments of Pure Recall"3:52
21."D4 – Denial Unravelling"4:16
22."D5 – The Way Ahead Feels Lonely"4:15
Total length:41:54
Stage 3
No.TitleLength
23."E1 – Back There Benjamin"4:14
24."E2 – And Heart Breaks"4:05
25."E3 – Hidden Sea Buried Deep"1:20
26."E4 – Libet's All Joyful Camaraderie"3:12
27."E5 – To the Minimal Great Hidden"1:41
28."E6 – Sublime Beyond Loss"2:10
29."E7 – Bewildered in Other Eyes"1:51
30."E8 – Long Term Dusk Glimpses"3:33
31."F1 – Gradations of Arms Length"1:31
32."F2 – Drifting Time Misplaced" (titled "Drifting Time Replaced" on Kirby's individual YouTube upload for Stage 3)4:15
33."F3 – Internal Bewildered World"3:29
34."F4 – Burning Despair Does Ache"2:37
35."F5 – Aching Cavern Without Lucidity"1:19
36."F6 – An Empty Bliss Beyond This World"3:36
37."F7 – Libet Delay"3:57
38."F8 – Mournful Cameraderie"2:39
Total length:45:35
Stage 4
No.TitleLength
39."G1 – Post Awareness Confusions"22:09
40."H1 – Post Awareness Confusions"21:53
41."I1 – Temporary Bliss State"21:01
42."J1 – Post Awareness Confusions"22:16
Total length:87:20
Stage 5
No.TitleLength
43."K1 – Advanced Plaque Entanglements"22:35
44."L1 – Advanced Plaque Entanglements"22:48
45."M1 – Synapse Retrogenesis"20:48
46."N1 – Sudden Time Regression into Isolation"22:08
Total length:88:20
Stage 6
No.TitleLength
47."O1 – A Confusion So Thick You Forget Forgetting"21:52
48."P1 – A Brutal Bliss Beyond This Empty Defeat"21:36
49."Q1 – Long Decline Is Over"21:09
50."R1 – Place in the World Fades Away"21:19
Total length:85:57

Personnel[]

Credits adapted from YouTube.[20]

Release history[]

All released worldwide by record label History Always Favours the Winners.

Stages 1–3
Date Format Catalog number Ref.
12 October 2017
  • Triple CD
  • digital download
HAFTWCD0103 [126]
7 April 2019 Triple LP HAFTW025026027-SET [127]
11 February 2021 [128]
21 May 2021 [129]
Stages 4–6
Date Format Catalog number Ref.
14 March 2019
  • Quadruple CD
  • digital download
HAFTWCD0406 [130]
23 September 2020 [131]
14 March 2019 Sextuple LP HAFTW028029030-SET [132]
7 April 2019 [133]
25 February 2021 [134]
28 May 2021 [135]

See also[]

Notes[]

  1. ^ Stylised in sentence case
  2. ^ Lyrics from "Heartaches" (1931).
  3. ^ French for "It's all over."
  4. ^ There were also claims that the series introduces symptoms of dementia in people; however, music has been proven to make patients happier.[10]

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