I experienced Sleep Token's 'Even in Arcadia' a month later and in the same UK recording studio as 'from The Room Below' series

Written by Karolina Malyan with a note from The Editor at the end

This title is not a clickbait. As of writing this article, it’s been over a month since Sleep Token released 'Even in Arcadia' and these words are written in one of the best UK recording places – Middle Farm Studios in Devon. For the hardcore fans of Sleep Token, this place is a reminder of 'From The Room Below' series from Covid-19 times where Vessel was sat at a black Steinway & Sons piano and performed “Bloodsport”. Sitting there, at the same piano, and not knowing what 'Even in Arcadia' will bring (well, apart from first three singles that promoted the record), the mood was certainly special... And made me feel this is the perfect space to experience new material from them. 

You are probably asking yourself: “Why were you waiting exactly for a month to listen to it and why in that particular studio?!” Well – there are a couple reasons to that and explaining it should be straight-forward. 

First and foremost – when you look forward to something so much with other people, you create that hype and masses follow it. You probably saw countless articles hyping 'Even in Arcadia' everywhere, fans rushing to experience it as soon as midnight hit at their local time zone... But what if you take a minute for everyone to digest it a little bit later, when the heat of the moment disappears and experience it in your own time? It’s not like that album will leave from streaming platforms in a day or two (ok, it could if it was a 24 hour release... but no one really does that cause both labels and artists want to earn money from promoting the release and musicians putting hard work into it).

Secondly, with quickly approaching festival season (by the time this article is written, Sleep Token has already performed at Rock im Park and Rock am Ring in Germany with their new, grandiose staging and masks), it will be simply unavoidable to not listen to new songs and not hear people talking about it. Especially as some of our contributors will be working at Download Festival in the UK soon and having a chance to listen to these tunes live.
With that being said, waiting to experience 'Even in Arcadia' for a month and being in the Middle Farm Studios for work at the same time worked in favour for me to feel it differently. Sitting on a couch in the control room - where the acoustics are pristine – made me appreciate it more than if I would have experienced it anywhere else.  

“Even in Arcadia” starting with truly haunting and emotional, almost 8-minute long song “Look to Windward”.  With that song, Sleep Token starts a new era that is notably dissimilar to their prior music. While first three albums were heart-break centric, the fourth album’s long play is a starter to understanding the hurt, dark sides of work and life balance (which in this case is much strained – more about that on “Caramel”) and finally finding that inner peace after big emotional pain. “Look to Windward” is that track which is the realisation things are going terribly wrong, and Vessel starts to cry for help... until he can surface himself in his real form during “Emergence” and “Past Self”.  

The past “Sleep” pattern breaks in mentioned above tracks. That realisation makes Vessel's eye-opening decisions to break free from past chains and try to break the chains of burden. He pleads to leave him alone and eventually feels like it will happen... He gets it that some things are going too far...  

What’s interesting enough to mention, these two songs are both incredibly amazing musically - “Emergence” has a phenomenal, demure sax solo performed by an absolute legend that is Gabi Rose (of Bilmuri  and Enrose fame) and genre-bending “Past Self” with phenomenal, catchy synths, wonderful vocal harmonies and seamless genre transitions between hip-hop and pop references.  

The more we get into 'Even in Arcadia'... The descent into darkness quickens. “Dangerous” and “Caramel” are both the songs that, without a doubt, are about unpleasant sides of fame that the band – especially Vessel – experienced. While the subject was touched in our review of “Caramel” single back in April, it would feel more than wrong to not acknowledge that these both songs are symbiotic with each other. “Dangerous” is calmer and yet again genre bending as an intro to “Caramel” - that also starts just as calm, only to crescendo into a beast of a song. These two songs are so cleverly written, and in such poetic way, it’s so easy to melt away and let the vocalist explain his pain. While it was hard to understand genre structure in “Caramel” at first, hearing “Dangerous” connected the dots for me and filled "Caramel" with more meaning than when I initially listened to it as a single. Hearing the two songs in succession left me realizing that what may feel sweet in theory can end up looking vastly different in real life.  

While all of the songs above have a deeper meaning and are loved by fans, judging by their Spotify listen counts, there are two songs left on this record for me to enjoy. The title track, “Even in Arcadia”, and “Infinite Baths” are just outstanding pieces of music. The former has the beautiful introduction fans heard with the announcement of the “Emergence” single on March 12^th. That beautiful sound merges into even more piano arrangements that supports lyrics about finding one's real self (this time bands get mentioned) and being grateful for fan support despite the hardships. He even points out that the titular “Arcadia”, although utopian, he and his bandmates experience it as essentially real. Moreover, the whole piece just emotionally hits different; notably at the outro of the song with Vessel’s raspy shout and truly poignant violin solo. 

Continuing with a grand finale, “Infinite Baths” similarly points out the hardships he's faced. However, within the final track, Vessel notes he found peace and heals from many broken situations happening to him – whether it was a broken heart or dealing with fame. He admits he doesn’t want to come back to the past, wants to move on... And we all should cheer on him. Anyone who experienced any sort of traumatic situation in their lives gets it. To fight your inner demon(s) is a challenge... And finding peace with your inner self is the best prize from life. We can wish him best in this situation, and hope he keeps having an easier time. There's also a notable similarity in "Infinite Baths” to the incredible “Take Me Back to Eden” - both these songs are ultimately anthemic; functioning as the albums grand finale and featuring, and focusing on, screamed vocals. Seeing that the band chose the latter to be performed at their upcoming live shows... It feels a little bit sad, that “Infinite Baths” won’t get its moment- it would be such a massive way to wrap up a live show.

Experiencing 'Even in Arcadia' in Middle Farm Studios for the first time was genuinely an incredible feeling. Sitting in the same space as Vessel did 5 years later was special, and with more context around their art, it felt all the more special. Maybe it’s not as groundbreaking and genre altering as 'Take Me Back to Eden' was, but that's ultimately not realistic. It would be insanely hard for Sleep Token to create an album that would top such a masterpiece immediately following 'Take Me Back to Eden'. While it’s obvious that not every fan of Sleep Token can visit the studio in the future, it was certainly something else. Despite the large time gap between 'Even in Arcadia' and 'From the Room Below' series – that mysterious spirit of the band is still there- and that album delivers it. Hopefully for many people it can be comparable musical involvement. Furthermore, as the author of this piece, it is my wish that my journey of experiencing 'Even in Arcadia' in such special place be emulated in a similar way at future shows for many other people – especially at upcoming Download Festival show.

Note from The Editor:

Vessel's 2022 Lafayette performance, known as 'The Room Below," featured Sleep Token's lead vocalist, Vessel, performing independently of the other members of the band, II, III, or IV. During the performance, Vessel sat with his back to the crowd and, ultimately, removed his mask for this performance. The performance was, as intended, intimate. During that performance, Vessel conveyed a message. The message is as follows:

“Some time ago, I was given a message. It was a message that originated from one among you. Someone possessed by a strong desire to tell me something. The message read very simply: ‘You saved me’. I have thought about this message a great deal since. It left me with the feeling that I have somehow been mistaken for someone else. I did not save anyone. I do not believe I have the capacity to save anyone. All I have ever given anyone was a small window into the emotional waiting room of my mind. I do so whilst doing everything in my power to minimize my own vulnerability. In this way, I am selfish. I choose not to give what others can. And yet, I am the benefactor of this thankful praise. I experience a great deal of pain in my life. However, I do not believe I have suffered as you have suffered. Perhaps that is another reason why we are here. At the very least, we have all suffered. I would also like to take this chance to tell you something. To love ones self - is not the easy task we are sometimes told it is. We are all limited by something. We are all guilty of something. My own path towards a place of greater self acceptance is paved with the art that I create. It is a path that I continue to stumble down. At the expense of everything else… I am nothing without this music. I am nothing without this mask. So in this sense, the message I received was true… but only in an inverse sense. The truth is, I did not save anybody. YOU. SAVED. ME.”

My note is this: You exist. That is enough.

I'm so glad you're here right now.