I had written these Two Singles that I eventually released in 2020, 'Monster Swims' and 'Monster Dances'. These are (I feel safe to say this point) decidedly in the "hyperpop" genre - although they were made before that term existed or certainly before I ever heard it. These two clean and squeaky pop songs are possibly the post personal and darkest I have ever made. They are not negative though and the reason they are they how they are is because that jarring detachment from the "monsters" in question is vital. I won't spoil it but the "monsters" in these songs are essentially psychological demons (as it were).
I had visual ideas for these songs years before their release. Very sporadic: I wanted something "edgy", hot pink, zig zaggy shapes, etc. And then in putting them together, I stumbled upon something fascinating.
My attention was drawn towards Carl Jung's book 'Aion', in which he looks at the events of history through examination of psychological symbols. To understand what was so significant to me you need a cursory understanding of the ideas of this book: Put crudely, Jungian psychology is predicated on the idea that everything has its opposite. Jung breaks the last Two Thousand years into the "Christian Era" and the "anti-christian Era". The anti-christian being comprised of a move away from religion, spirituality and God, and towards science, rationality and materiality. Thus, the "Antichrist" here, rather than in its more stereotypical connotations, very literally epitomizes this set of values that are opposed to the Christian values embodied by Christ. Now, Jung idenified these eras with the two fish of the astroglical aion of Pisces, with which it coincides; the first fish denoting Christ and the Christian era (0 - 1000 AD) and the second with the anti-christian (1000-2000 AD, roughly). All of this pertains to the much mentioned, Age of Aquarius, which we have just entered or soon will be entering.
So many of the symbols and imagery discussed by Jung in Aion, were so strikingly similar to my somewhat random ideas I'd had in both the images and the songs. I initially thought it was kind of cool that I was touching on similar things. Then one night I looked in the bathroom where I was staying and I realised: the place was covered in fish designs, with two big fish facing each other on the wall (with the mirror, i.e me, in the middle) I thought this was weird. When I realised the two featured vocalists on 'Monster Swims' are both Pisces (one representing a positive perspective, one negative), I thought it was strange. Finally, realizing I had inadvertently been drawn to astrological symbols, that I didn’t even know existed I was slightly gobsmacked. I had put the symbol of Aquarius on the single cover without knowing what it was. I’m aware of Jung’s idea of synchronicity and heard from the more mystically minded that it’ll happen more and more the further down a certain path, so I took it as a positive indication.
CONTINUE DOWN THE RABBIT HOLE.
One thing I was grappling with was the idea of aesthetics. Everything "has an anesthetic" these days and I find it really insufferable, especially when art making seems to become only an excercise in curating the best aesthetic, and especially still, when that becoems impossible. I've realised that form must come second to content. though believe me that is a very difficult distinction for me to make. Ultimately I decided that to escape the pressure of the aesthetic you must offer a style that is either somewhat arbitrary or founded primarilly on functionality. Again; who cares, but this is something that has bothered me and I can see bothers many other people who have not yetrealised the redundancy of their efforts. I made this album with a particular aesthetic that is just the sheen and I belive it is mostly held together by its less temporal qualities lke words and music. it is somewhat odd to realise, though, that all there is is words and music, and that the hugely attractive idea of progress is something of an illusion. Again, I am a hypocrite because I arrived here only after realising that the most cool and subversive thing to do was not be cool and subversive. : Neocities.
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*Notice the the "waves" under the title of 'Monster Swims'. There are other symbols, but I cannot rembember if those had come about after finding out about 'Aion' or not.