#sleep token analysis | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

politemagic · 2 months

Text

thread the needle & ariadne's thread

“Thread the Needle” marks Vessel’s first true interactions with Sleep. Sleep has been watching him for some time, noting his pain and struggles to craft a plan to bring him into Their service. Sleep recognizes that the thing Vessel needs most is comfort and uses that to begin gaining his trust. Vessel begins to long for the comfort of these dreams that Sleep is showing him, though he hasn’t yet realized that it is Sleep who is responsible. This song, however, is the first time that Sleep presents Themself to him.

While looking at the lyrics to this song, I couldn’t help but draw a lot of connections between Vessel and the Greek hero Theseus. I’m not sure if anyone has ever really explored this before, but I had a lot of fun tying the myth of the Theseus and the Minotaur into this song and so I figured I would share some of my thoughts!

Bury me inside this labyrinth bed

We can feel that time is dilated

As a very brief refresher, in Greek mythology King Minos ordered the architect Daedalus to design the Labyrinth to imprison the Minotaur beneath Knossos. The Labyrinth was an extremely vast, complex maze that was nearly impossible to navigate, and as a punishment for the murder of his son, King Minos ordered the King of Athens, King Aegeus, to sacrifice 7 boys and 7 girls to the minotaur every nine years. This continued until Aegeus’ son Theseus volunteered himself as one of the sacrifices with the intention of finally slaying the Minotaur. Upon his arrival, King Minos’ daughter Princess Ariadne fell in love with Theseus. In an act of betrayal against her father, Ariadne gave Thesus a spool of thread that he used to guide him and the other Athenians out of the labyrinth after he killed the Minotaur. On their voyage home, they stopped on the island of Naxos, where Theseus and his crew abandoned Ariadne while she slept.

For simplicity, these are the major parallels I found:

King Minos = Sleep

Theseus = Vessel

Minotaur = Trauma/pain

Labyrinth = Dreamworld (presented by Sleep)

Sleep is the one calling Vessel into these dreams, just as King Minos ordered the sacrifices into the Labyrinth. Though Sleep isn’t intending to sacrifice Vessel, They are using the labyrinth to trap him into Their influence. Unlike Theseus, Vessel doesn’t immediately leave the labyrinth after he defeats the Minotaur. Instead, he relishes in his victory for some time, the death of the monster bringing him a sense of relief from the burdens of his pain and trauma. It feels as if time doesn’t exist in this world, like he exists in perfect freedom. This is when Sleep finally decides to present Themself to him.

We can spend the night in fascination

You can thread the needle

Time and time again

Sleep is telling him that it was Them who gave him the power to overcome that monster. They allowed him to feel that strength and power first, and then revealed that it was Them who bestowed it upon him, promising to continue so long as he surrenders himself to Sleep. The phrase “thread the needle” most often means carefully navigating a difficult situation between opposing forces. Sleep is presenting Themself as the missing piece to allow Vessel to make it through this dark period of his life, so long as he spends his nights with Them, and he is more than willing.

You turn the lights down

Come on and find out

You turn the lights down

Come on and find out

In a bonus sprinkling of Greek mythology, this just feels like a siren’s call, Sleep luring Vessel to his downfall. The specific phrasing here of “you turn the lights down” sounds to me more as if Sleep is simply narrating, implying the Vessel is coming on his own free will as opposed to Sleep commanding him to turn the lights down.

Something to confide in

Something to erase

Just look at where we're lying

An invisible space

Sleep continues offering to ease Vessel’s pain, playing to his specific wants. Vessel feels alone in his life, isolated by traumas, and Sleep offers to listen to him. He is constantly trying to forget past events, and Sleep offers to erase them and let him forget. This dreamworld in which they are interacting is a place that isn’t real, “an invisible space”, where real pains don’t exist. As he remains within the labyrinth, he begins to lose his connection with his humanity, and this is something that will only continue as the story progresses.

In losing touch with his humanity, he begins to lose his attachment to Eden. Eden plays a very similar role in Vessel’s story as Princess Ariadne does in the story of Theseus. She loves him and cares for him, giving him the real strength (the “thread”) that he needs in order to make his way out of Sleep’s influence. But he has been seduced by Sleep, and that affiliation causes Vessel to hurt Eden as that relationship intensifies. Just as Theseus abandons Ariadne on the island of Naxos, Vessel abandons Eden in pursuit of his relationship with Sleep.

There are a few different reasons people believe that Theseus abandons Ariadne. For this comparison, I’ll be operating under the interpretation that Theseus abandoned her because Athena told him that she was only a distraction, that he needed to focus on his new role as King of Athens. Sleep will encourage Vessel to do the same thing to Eden, abandoning his love for her in interest of furthering Sleep’s plans and influence.

We can spend the night in fascination

You can thread the needle

Time and time again

You turn the lights down

Come on and find out

You turn the lights down

Come on and find out

I’ve been too nervous to share any of my thoughts from my lyrical analysis before, but my brain ran away with this one and I felt like I put a little too much time into it to keep it all to myself. If there are any other parallels you picked up on, or any other thoughts in general, or even if you think this is ridiculous feel free to add on!! I’d love to hear your thoughts, there’s so much to unpack with Sleep Token’s discography and I love reading other people’s theories and analyses.

#i hope this doesn't make me sound absolutely insane but i haven't been able to stop thinking about it #lyrical analysis of the eps makes me want to put my head through a wall in the most affectionate and loving way #vessel's lyricism will never cease to amaze me i love that man #sleep token #sleep token lore #sleep token analysis #one ep #thread the needle #em’s stcu

30 notes · View notes

cr1ms0nesp3ra-ac3 · 3 days

Text

Night people, expect me to post some st analysis stuff!

Have a vid.

#crimson talks!#sleep token #sleep token band #sleep token analysis #good night post!#my throat hurts rn but hey- idk why tbh but I sound like vessel-#anyways bye bye!#sleep token ii #ii sleep token #not my video.#source: tiktok

17 notes · View notes

ancientbygone · 2 months

Text

i don't think vessel remembers what ii's face looks like anymore. i mean, he came home to ii after losing his own, still in a half-deranged state after a suicide attempt and meeting a god, and then he couldn't look ii in the eye out of shame and fear that came with begging for a home like a lost dog on ii's doorstep and carrying the aforementioned god inside of his shadow, and then vessel's reality and identity starts to blur until he's Him and doesn't recognize anything anymore, and then there's a significant gap in his memory and as soon as it's over ii dons a mask because he thinks that maybe, maybe, maybe if he just plays along and worships sleep by his side he can control the situation just a little more and make sure vessel doesn't throw himself into such extremities again. and then that mask never gets taken off, at least not around vessel, because ii has a duty and he's not about to throw that away. i don't think vessel knows what ii's face looks like anymore.

#sleep token #sleep token vessel #sleep token ii #sleep token theories #sleep token writing #bygone talks #bygone writes #sleep token him #<- mentioned in passing #idk i've been thinking about this for a bit now #another thanks to HEALTH and RAT WARS and specifically ASHAMED for this one #suicide attempt #suicide attempt tw

20 notes · View notes

fivewholeminutes · 5 months

Note

there’s a part in take me back to Eden that says “i’m in a waking hell and the gods grow tired.” do you think it’s referencing the origin of vessel and sleep? as in, vessel was in “a waking hell” (reality/earth) before he shifted away from his previous life to believe in sleep (a ‘tired’ god)?

Hello there, Anon! This is a goooooooood one, let me roll my sleeves up for an answer-

This is a delicious perspective I have not considered before, however! I do believe he says "I'm a waking hell" there and I will explain later why, but for that I would have to leave the interpretation of the whole song here. And it will kinda mix the being in waking hell and being a waking hell, because I overdid it again. Apologies in advance.

For me, this song refers to the beginning of it all, to an event which was perhaps the final straw for the trilogy (or even the general idea of Sleep Token) to exist. There are parts of this song that feel like a reminiscence of a catalyst for the whole sleepy business and parts that describe the present, after Vessel got a taste of what the whole sleepy business is about. I'll try to explain that now!

I dream in phosphorescence Bleed through spaces See you drifting past the fog But no one told you where to go

We dive through crystal waters, perfect oceans But no one told me not to breathe And now the weightlessness recedes

Okay, for me, the first verse is him dreaming of the times before, of his Eden (a person, a "better" time in his life, whichever suits you). He bleeds through spaces (in the Dreamworld?) to see what he has lost and craves to come back to. But the dream turns into the moment it all went wrong, where they got lost/drowned. He comes back from the dream-turned-nightmare to the present with the chorus:

My, my, those eyes like fire I'm a winged insect, you're a funeral pyre Come now, bite through these wires I'm a waking hell and the gods grow tired Reset my patient violence along both lines of a pathway higher Grow back your sharpest teeth, you know my desire

(Oh god let me be feral about the chorus for a second here, ok. GOD I LOVE THIS SO MUCH, HOW CAN YOU WRITE POETRY LIKE THIS AND HAVE THE AUDACITY TO DELIVER THOSE LINES SO DELICIOUSLY. WHO GAVE HIM THE RIGHT. IT'S BEEN ALMOST 8 MONTHS AND I AM STILL EXPERIENCING EMOTIONS UNNOWN TO HUMANKIND WHEN I HEAR THIS- okay I am back to being normal now.)

He wakes up and remembers how cruel being under Sleep's influence is. That no matter what he dreams of (hello, The Apparition), he is always waking up to the reality, which is still terrible, despite Sleep's promises. The eyes (probably 6 of them huh) are Sleep's. Sleep continues to lure Vessel in, even when Vessel knows, after being with/serving/worshipping Sleep for quite some time now, that Sleep is going to be his downfall. But he stays, cause he has no better options, mayhaps?

And we're finally getting to the waking hell part which you've asked about!

He is in waking hell still, even if he thought he's going to escape from it. He knows he cannot/will not separate from Sleep now, but it's not like he's going to make Sleep's life easier with completely giving up. He:

isn't happy about the sleepy business (anymore);

has an attitude and WILL bite back;

will make his suffering everyone else's problem now.

Which brings me to the gods - in many interpretations I've seen, Sleep is an outcast in some sort of pantheon. He needed Vessel as much as Vessel needed him and together they are more powerful. Sleep helped Vessel in his lowest moment and Vessel, while gathering more and more worshippers, gave (and is still giving) Sleep enough power to make other gods' lives miserable as a revenge or something. Or just, you know, grow in power in general, it doesn't have to be a revenge. The other gods will be pissed off either way, because one thing all gods hate is other gods/entities growing in power.

The symbiosis with Sleep has worked for a while, but due to various reasons (Sleep getting too greedy, as gods do, not all Vessel's problems being magically fixed by Sleep's presence, miscommunication, different expectations, broken promises etc. etc.) Vessel started to rebel. He's in waking hell still (despite Sleep's promises that lured him in in the first place), so he will become one for the ones he can lash out on now (Sleep and the other gods). He embraced the become ungovernable meme. Isn't there a saying "hell is other people"? He took that literally. While he's awake, he is insufferable to all who he thinks is at fault for his current state now.

I will travel far beyond the path of reason Take me back to Eden

And he's happily going to continue to be insufferable to get what he wants (what Sleep has promised him when they've made their pact or whatever it is they did tbh), even if it's not reasonable to do so. He's beyond caring at this point.

And we're back to flashbacks, baby!

Well yeah, I spit blood when I wake up Sink porcelain stained, choking up brain matter and makeup Just two days since the mainframe went down and I'm still messed up Room feels like a meat freezer, I dangle in it like cold cuts Missed calls, answered phones from people I just don't trust Mirror talk, fake love But I'll take a pound of your flesh Before you take a piece of my paystub White roses, black doves, Godmother, rise up I need you to see me for what I have become

I really think this depicts the catalyst for going under Sleep's influence and the very moment they became entangled. Something happened (accident, death? and the aftermath of it, the lowest point, depression, becoming wary of people around him, aggression etc.) and that's when Sleep took an opportunity that would benefit them both (with the hidden agenda for later, of course). Now imagine the magical girl transformation with the roses and doves flying around and from Just Some Guy he becomes a Vessel and in the last moment of realisation of what he has done, he's crying out to the Godmother (whoever she may be!) that he's changed and probably irrevocably so.

Back to the present!

I guess it goes to show, does it not? That we've no idea what we've got until we lose it And no amount of love will keep it around If we don't choose it And I don't know what's got its teeth in me But I'm about to bite back in anger No amount of self-sought fury Will bring back the glory of innocence

He's realising that no matter what, he cannot turn the time back. Not even with Sleep's "help". He's not going to give up though, just for the sake of having something to do out of spite.

I have traveled far beyond the path of reason Take me back to Eden

Ok, with this one I am frankly not sure if it's "I have travelled" or just a repetition of the previous one. Can't hear it clearly and we don't have official lyrics (i am side eyeing Vessel so much rn). But. If it's "I will", it's just repeating of the things he'll do to piss the gods off. If it's "I have travelled", then maybe he's just confirming the past won't come back, even though he tried everything (has travelled far beyond the path of reason) or maybe he is still hoping the possibility to get back there physically, when everything was fine, and will fight for his Eden still. And not just out of spite.

#last time i focused on literary analysis this much was my end exams in high school for real #i hope that makes sense i feel like i have become a different person while writing it lmao #sorry anon i have not given you a straightforward answer #is this coherent? no #am i correct? also no #but it's one of the ways i see it #sleep token #sleep token analysis #asks #tumblr stop making random letters big in the small font challenge

38 notes · View notes

melit0n · 3 months

Text

I love Jaws with all my heart, so, here I come with a little analysis again!

First off, the title. Bite my neck, drink my blood and make us one type vibes. Sleep Token in general has a massive thing with biting, teeth, consumption and chewing (there's a massive post on Reddit with all the times it's been mentioned, which, if I remember correctly, is around twenty), across their discography, and Jaws is the immediate beginning of this trend.

Jaws are a sign of power, destruction, love, sadness and joy. We bear our teeth when we're happy, when we're angry and when we eat. It is the ultimate metaphor for so many emotions. You don't know someone until you've seen them destroy something, to shout and scream and chew and bite, hence the line "show me those pretty white jaws; show me where the delicate stops". He's asking to see the real them, whoever they are.

All the lyrics have this underlying religious tone, as most Sleep Token songs do, but here it's more directly addressed. "Stained glass" is almost always associated with Churches and Cathedrals, and presents 'them' as something Holy; something that can and will be worshipped. However, the line "Whites of your eyes burn" completely removes all the ideas of safety that surrounds a religious figure. Of course, when it comes to divinity and sin, fire is a massive symbol we have to talk about. To burn is to suffer, but to be cleansed. It's this double entendre that presents this figure of safety as one who is also a threat. A predator.

Then, of course, we have "And I'm not here to be the saviour you long for". Unfortunately, Vessel seems to be in this constant battle of 'I can fix them; we can fix eachother. We're gonna be fine!' and 'I fucking hate you; leave me be or I'll have at you', which is what's seen in this one. Neither of them are the saviour the other one yearns for, yet Vessel still tries. He asks, and then repeats over and over, creating the tone of begging and pleading, for them to show him what they've lost and, in turn, show him love.

He's asking them for the two things they can never genuinely give, but he never stops trying because God forbid the things he'd do if he was alone again.

#also the line 'show me those pretty white jaws'#white reflects purity and innocence (especially in religious context so we're gonna roll with that) but is immediately juxtaposed with ->#the violence of jaws #plus plus!#the album art depicts a shark's jaw (apex predator) imbedded with flowers; yet again juxtaposing utter destruction and fragile beauty again #ugh I love this song #so many little details I can dig my fingers into #(and it also may be a tinsy-tiny bit relatable for me)#sleep token #st #sleep token analysis #jaws (song)#lyric analysis #mel's rambles

128 notes · View notes

acecubus · 4 months

Text

I am thick tar on the inside burning.

I don't know how many of you are familiar with the process of tar making, but as someone who made some themself (thanks to historical reenactment) and knows at least a tiny bit about the (medieval) basics, the fact that Vessel even came up with that line always blows my mind.

Because it basically means: something that took a long f*cking time to prepare was destroyed in a matter of mere seconds because something seemingly harmless got through a crack, set the insides on fire and ruined everything you worked on for so long.

It's one of my favourite lines in the whole song, and it fits so well with the theme it goes for - in my opinion.

Vessel, you mad genius, you can not imagine how much I love you for that, for real.

#sleep token #sleep token lyrics #sleep token analysis #sleep token vessel #sleep token lore #sleep token theories #worshitposting #i could go into heavy detail but i really don't want to bore y'all

36 notes · View notes

polteergeistt · 4 months

Text

Drag Me Under feels like a big empty white foggy space, like some sort of dream in a never-ending void. It feels like nothing has ever been alive in there. But the lyrics are dripping with yearning. Yearning. Drag Me Under is this lingering need to be loved when the total amount of love received in a lifetime is comparable to this lifeless space. It's a loneliness that leaves your chest hollow because nothing was put in there to begin with.

But one day you got a taste.

It is so sweet. It's all you've ever dreamed off. It's a fire in winter, a roof above your head, a feeling of weightlessness. This shred of taste vanished away as fast as it arrived. Now you yearn, but you know what for. You know what you want and what you need. The fact that you got to experience it, even for a fraction of time, makes you want it even more. You want more. You want a lot. But you barely got anything in the first place. Were you ever worthy of it ? Was it really something that could be willingly given to you ? You don't think so. You notice its absence even more. This fog is this shred of knowledge of what it feels like, what you dream of, everything that represents love to you. It's like encased gaz. It has no way out. The yearning is like a heat source. Sooner or later, your empty chest will burst. But it doesn't matter, because no matter how much you will give and how strongly you desire, you will always fall asleep in an empty bed anyway.

#drag me under #we yearning tonight lads #sundowning #sleep token analysis #polteergeistt song analysis #sleep token #sleep token band

32 notes · View notes

houseofache · 8 months

Text

cannot get over how ominous the end of mine is— “did you not say we were made for each other?” it’s uttered with a measured and sorrowful fury, like someone stalking nearer towards you in anger, with the way it questions the listener who temporarily stands as the singer’s surrogate lover.

it is the spiritual precursor to nazareth for me. it lays the foundation to showcasing a love that has snapped under its own unreciprocated weight. one that harshly questions its affective object about their commitment to the love the two supposedly share, and the pair’s fate.

everyone has felt this seething betrayal and venomous indictment against their loved ones. everyone, too, has desired to question their lover in moments of anger and heartbreak. mine and nazareth play into each other as a pair with the former portraying the controlled inhale as it reiterates what was once promised, and the latter portraying the sharp exhale as it shatters any notions that what once was can ever be regained.

because didn’t you say so? “did you not say that we were made for each other?” but it’s fine. this heartbreak is fine. i’ll see you again. “i’ll see you when the wrath comes.”

#mine #nazareth #sleep token #sleep token writing #sleep token analysis #writing #analysis #sleep token band #sleep token vessel #sleep token ii #sleep token iii #sleep token iv #vessel #ii #iii #iv #sleep token mine #sleep token nazareth #mini essay

89 notes · View notes

voidpacifist · 5 months

Text

deepdive: sleep token lore

EDIT: This has now also been cross posted on Reddit :] Just a disclaimer before we begin: these are all purely my own theories, I know there are plenty more of them out there that are probably more cohesive! I don't intend to speculate about the man behind Vessel's mask or any real events in his life, I'm only talking about the character that is Vessel. Okay neat, let's get started

We'll start with our key characters: Vessel (protagonist), Sleep (a deity), and Eden (Vessel's speculated partner/interest). I personally haven't dove deeply enough through the older discography to know why the conclusion is that Eden is a person, but here is where I see it mentioned (Lex does a really good job breaking down the lore via a Reddit thread that ties together all of the albums, including EPs One and Two as well. I recommend giving them a follow!).

I'll only be diving into the main trilogy (Sundowning, This Place Will Become Your Tomb, Take Me Back To Eden), but I may revisit One and Two as well in the future. The Reddit thread that Lex mentions is also not something I've had the chance to read yet, so I'm sort of starting off at square one.

The basic lore that we know right off the bat is that Vessel is seduced by Sleep in a dream, that Sleep is an ancient deity, and that in order to worship Sleep, Vessel offers "tokens" to them. The tokens being the different songs in STs discography, ergo the name Sleep Token.

My theory, to begin, is that not every track is actually an offering or "token" to Sleep, but rather some of the songs are simply about Sleep. Many of the tracks are framed the way contemporary worship music is, hence many of the songs are quite literally the worship of Sleep. But these aren't the tokens or offerings themselves. The tokens themselves are the ones where Vessel is pouring his heart out about Eden and the facets of their relationship - physical, emotional, etc. Sleep consumes these tokens and in return, grants Vessel...rest? Peace of mind? Forgiveness?

We'll get into it.

Let's start with which specific songs are about Eden (the tokens), which ones are about Sleep, and which ones remain more ambiguous to me. If we're sticking to the main trilogy, then there's a total of eleven (11) tracks that I know for certain are referring to Sleep, and a total of nineteen (19) tracks that are without a doubt referring to Eden. There's about six (6) in the trilogy that I haven't narrowed down just yet, though leaving them to interpretation does allow for more fluidity in the story. Those last six in question are Vore, Telomeres, The Summoning, Rain, The Apparition, and High Water.

There are plenty of aspects about The Summoning that would normally lead me to believe that the track is about Eden, but a few things tip me off that it may be speaking to Sleep as well. Namely, "did I mistake you for a sign from God?" as well as the line, "something you say or something you do, the taste of the divine." Whoever Vessel is referring to, he is deifying them. And as we know, Sleep is a deity.

Vore was harder for me to narrow down until I listened to it again, and it definitely is speaking to Eden, simply because the "you" Vessel refers to has some distinctly, for lack of better terminology, mortal traits - "your flesh and bone welcome me in, welcome me in." He also asks, "Will we remain stuck in the throat of the gods?" which doesn't seem like something he would ask of a god themselves. It's also one of the most poignantly written tracks on Take Me Back To Eden, and offers the listener a new look at how desperate Vessel is to get back to Eden. However, from a more literary perspective, looking at it through the lens of the "you" being Sleep, it's where we can also catch a glimpse of Vessel's first misgivings with the deity. "There's always something in the way, I want to have you to myself for once," he says. If the feeling of this line is familiar, see the opening sentences from the track Gods on Sundowning: "I see the gods avert their gaze from me. My fucking form is but a wreck beneath them."

And if, in fact, all of the gods are averting their gazes from Vessel, that makes Sleep's presence all the more elusive. In The Apparition, he says, "I know that you will disappear just as I awake." It would seem fitting for a deity such as Sleep to be referred to this way, but then Vessel goes on to say, "somewhere in the past, something was between you and I, my dear." And if he's trying to return to Eden, then this track being about her would fit especially well.

Telomeres could very well be about either Sleep or Eden. "And I know as you collapse into me this is the start of something." We can either look at this as the start of Vessel's story with Sleep, or as the start of Vessel's story with Eden.

Rain was another one of those tracks that I was pretty sure could go either way, but the line, "you have got your hooks in me" felt distinctly like something he would say about a non-human being. "You get what you give, you reap what you sow and I can see you in my fate." Giving and taking. Transactional. Tug of war. The conversation that occurs between a being of great power and a being of lesser power. A human and a god.

The "sacred vapour" in High Water threw me for a loop at first, but this is what drew it back for me: "I know you still bear the weight of your own existence, and you'll never bear the weight of two." This doesn't sound like something Sleep as a being would struggle with, even as Vessel desperately begs to be "washed clean" time and time again. No, this track, despite having a lot of deifying language, is written to and about Eden.

Now that those have been looked at, let's look at the rest of the tracks. Those eleven that I believe refer to Sleep are The Night Does Not Belong To God (Sundowning), Atlantic (This Place Will Become Your Tomb), Gods (Sund.), Aqua Regia (Take Me Back To Eden), The Offering (Sund.), Higher (Sund.), Chokehold (TMBTE), Descending (TPWBYT), Ascensionism (TMBTE), Take Me Back To Eden (TMBTE), and Euclid (TMBTE).

The nineteen that I believe are written to or about Eden are Sugar (Sund.), Hypnosis (TPWBYT), Drag Me Under (Sund.), Mine (TPWBYT), Like That (TPWBYT), Alkaline (TPWBYT), Distraction (TPWBYT), Fall For Me (TPWBYT), The Love You Want (TPWBYT), Are You Really Okay? (TMBTE), Take Aim (Sund.), Give (Sund.), Say That You Will (Sund.), DYWTYLM (TMBTE), Levitate (Sund.), Granite (TMBTE), Dark Signs (Sund.), Missing Limbs (TPWBYT), and Blood Sport (Sund.).

If they look like they're in an oddly specific order, it's because they are. This brings me to the second part of the lore as I understand it - my theory is that while every song is meant to be listened to in the order that they're in, that doesn't mean they're in chronological order. We as the listeners are meant to consume it out of order so that it comes together from start to finish in the way that Vessel has methodically intended. Starting with The Night Does Not Belong To God and concluding with Euclid. The order in which I have listed them above is what I believe the order is of events between Vessel and Sleep and Eden respectively, minus the more ambiguous tracks.

Let's take a look at the tokens first, the ones where Vessel writes to and about Eden. Off the bat we know that Vessel is a fierce and insatiable lover, and his descriptions of how he desires for Eden are nothing short of that. Particularly in Sugar and Like That, the physicality of their relationship is just a little more than hinted at. Tracks such as Drag Me Under, Mine, Alkaline, and Distraction all further instill in the listener just how gone Vessel is for Eden. He is in pursuit - all he needs is for her to fall for him back.

"Did you not say we were made for each other?" -Mine

Which then brings us to Fall For Me. It's the first traces of vulnerability we see Vessel giving to Eden, as he implores for her to reciprocate the affection he feels.

"My insecurities surround me like lions in the den, and I feel like I'm losing touch with what I am again. And slowly I remember why I cannot pretend that I never think of you and all this screaming silence." -Fall For Me

But evidently, Eden does not reciprocate. In fact, Vessel starts to see a darkness in her that is referenced in The Love You Want, Are You Really Okay?, Give and DYWTYLM. He desires for her and to know her, but the more he knows, the more it seems like she either doesn't want to give love back to him or simply cannot.

"Too many swallowed keys will make you bleed internally someday, but maybe you believe that in the end you will be better off that way." -The Love You Want

"You woke me up one night, dripping crimson on the carpet. I saw it in your eyes, cutting deeper than the scars could run." -Are You Really Okay?

"If you want to give, then give me all that you can give, all your darkest impulses." -Give

"Maybe not that you conceal your feelings, they just don't exist." -DYWTYLM

In fact, in DYWTYLM, we hear Vessel plead in the background, "Smile back at me." It almost seems like we've come to the end of something with him. He's bargaining with her to give love a chance with him, but along with it, he's lost touch of who she is at all. Already, Eden seems like a contradiction in and of herself, as referenced in Alkaline as "perfectly misaligned."

Then, we come to Levitate. This is a track that I'm trying not to tear apart too deeply, both because it references a death, and because it references a lot of hurt was exchanged between Vessel and Eden in their relationship. I'll try to be frank with how I think it fits into the storyline, but I'd rather not be insensitive. I say it references a death due to the nature of how Eden is spoken about in these lines:

"I can tell you won't remember my cracking bones, the trauma we can't regrow just as you leave again. Will you levitate up where the angels inhabit? Will you levitate where I won't reach you?" -Levitate

The way I see it, this is much more than just grievances tearing apart a relationship - this is something that time cannot and will not reverse. Sure, Levitate seems a little more up to interpretation about what happened to divide Vessel and Eden, but there are other little references here and there that seem more final than simply walking out on someone. In the track order of Sundowning, Dark Signs immediately follows, and it weirdly specifically refers to a car.

"And if you saw the marks on my dashboard, the new scars that I didn't ask for, would you call asking for answers?" -Dark Signs

It's an oddly specific thing to write about. And it pops up again in Vessel and Eden's arc in TMBTE:

"I was more than just a body in your passenger seat, and you were more than just somebody I was destined to meet...Between the secondhand smoke and the glass on the street, you gave me nothing whatsoever but a reason to leave...You only drink the water when you think it's holy, so keep an eye on the road or we'll both be here forever." -Granite

As far as "what" happened to them, or more specifically, to Eden, Granite is a quite revealing track. Combine the contents of it with Levitate and Dark Signs, and it becomes much more than just about Eden leaving - Eden is dead. Even outside of the tokens, her death is referenced.

"Why are you never real? Whenever you appear, you leave me with that grace. I am trembling with fear, but I know that you will disappear just as I awake...this could be the last time you turn up in the reveries of my mind." -The Apparition

"Let the tides carry you back to me. The past, the future, through death, my arms are open." -Telomeres

"The whites of your eyes turn black in the lowlight in turning divine." -The Night Does Not Belong To God

But how does one "turn divine"? Simple: they're either chosen by God or they ascend in death. When Vessel asks in Levitate if Eden will levitate, I don't think he fully knows that she's truly going anywhere after death. Vessel isn't just seeking solace for his idiosyncrasies, and he isn't just seeking rest that isn't haunted by Eden, and he isn't just seeking forgiveness - he's seeking Eden, even after death. Even Fall For Me has some eerie foreshadowing about this, as Vessel screams, "Oh god, I wish you were here!" in the background and as he says, "to the rhythm of eternity, won't you fall for me?" in the chorus.

When he says forever, he means forever. But now Eden has gone where Vessel cannot follow. Who better than to seek but gods themselves to get her back? Thus starts Vessel and Sleep's story together.

In Atlantic, he pleads, "anything to get me to sleep." If we think about that by itself, it makes sense to say Eden is appearing to him in his dreams, but if we think about it in terms of The Night Does Not Belong To God coming first, we can also think of that track as the "falling asleep" before Vessel is seduced. He's not just looking for rest anymore in Atlantic - he's looking for a reverse.

But he cannot find anything to help him, and the frustration of that manifests in Gods, where he keeps saying, almost snidely, "It's all so easy for me." He's getting ready to go to war to complete his goal. Then, all of a sudden, he encounters Sleep.

"These days, I'm a circuit board, integrated hardware you cannot afford. The perfect start to a perfect war, putting down the roses, picking up the sword...Between the pain and the way you look, I'm stuck in a time where the mountains shook." -Aqua Regia

"And you are a garden, entwined with all. You are the silence on sacred shores. You've got diamonds for teeth, my love. So take a bite of me just once...This is a giving, an offering." -The Offering

The offering in question is everything Vessel is now as a result of his story with Eden, because he was all consumed with loving and trying to be loved by her. The tokens he gives to Sleep to bring her back to him somehow are deep glimpses into everything he was with her, and offer the briefest glimpse of who she was as well. Telomeres is, in fact, the start of something. It's double-sided. Because the start of something with Sleep mimics the start he had with Eden, playing with two sides of the same coin: seduction and desire. Eden's story begins with desire, and Sleep's begins with seduction.

"Believe that though we never eat, we still know how to feed. We still know how to bleed. Sugar, I've developed a taste for you, now." -Sugar

"These days I'm a picture frame, screaming at the sunshine, singing in the rain. Sugar on the blood cells, carbon on the brain, out of Eden's vices running through my veins." -Aqua Regia

After The Offering, the true tug of war begins with Vessel and Sleep, as he starts feeding them more and more of himself in an attempt to get them to comply with bringing Eden back.

"I am granting you more than the debt that I owe." -Higher

Similar to how it was with Eden, Vessel becomes obsessed with the worship of Sleep, offering token after token. It almost becomes a game between the two of them, and Vessel's insatiability reappears. Chokehold is evidence of his obsession and his desperation, and we can see it beginning to devour him.

"I've seen my days unfold, done the impossible, I'd turn my walls to gold to bring you home again. So show me that which I cannot see, even if it hurts me. Even if I can't sleep." -Chokehold

No longer does Vessel seek sleep as a form of rest. In Atlantic, it was "anything to get me to sleep." And now, it's "even if I can't sleep." He is fully devoted to Sleep the deity now, at his own expense. And, as his devotion is received by Sleep, as the tokens stack and as he grows restless, Vessel is allowed a vision of Eden.

"Raise me up again, take me past the edge. I want to see the other side. Won't you show me what it's like? My love, did I mistake you for a sign from God? Or are you really here to cut me off?" -The Summoning

Then, just as soon as he is allowed a glimpse of Eden, he realizes this Eden isn't the same as his Eden. It's what ultimately begins him on a path of speculation about Sleep's true intentions with him. Descending and Ascensionism, while both being in the same key, are also sister tracks. If Higher takes him closer to Sleep, then Descending takes him further away, while Ascensionism has him finally addressing just how much Sleep has taken from him.

"Just take it all for nothing, again. Create, release. She just don't feel the same. I asked, and you answered. But you eat your words in frame." -Descending

"Well I know what you want from me. You want someone to be. Your reflection, your bitter deception, setting you free. So you take what you want and leave...And I know what you want from me. You want the same as me. My redemption, eternal ascension, setting me free. So I'll take what I want and leave. You make me wish I could disappear." -Ascensionism

Sleep isn't just a deity that can "bring back" Eden - Sleep is a deity that embodies her. They become her, but they can never be her. The illusion of getting Eden back only breaks down until it's beyond "the path of reason." And in the way that Vessel chased after Eden, he chased after Sleep as well. And Sleep can show him no more than a cheap imitation of the one he loves.

"Come now, bite through these wires. I'm a waking hell and the gods grow tired. Reset my patient violence along both sides of a pathway higher. Grow back your sharpest teeth, you know my desire...And I don't know what's got its teeth in me but I'm about to bite back in anger. No amount of self-sought fury will bring back the glory of innocence."

It's an ultimatum with both himself and with Sleep. Sleep's diamond-sharp teeth are now taking pieces of him instead of eating through his "circuit board," the one he talks about in Aqua Regia. Instead of freeing him, Sleep has kept him in their jaws. They're not taking him back to Eden at all - they're merely continuing to seduce him.

And still, even in the end, Vessel petitions Sleep once more as if they are Eden. Because the night does not belong to God...

"...the night belongs to you." -Euclid

As it circles back to the end of Euclid, we are offered the same words from The Night Does Not Belong To God. The night belongs to Sleep, but Vessel stops asking for Sleep themselves, or for Eden. "You will not be mine" is a double entendre - Sleep will not be his, and neither will Eden. This track is the last thing he says to Sleep-as-Eden. It's the final stage of grief, the start of Vessel's redemption arc, giving in either to the throes of the deity Sleep or choosing to walk away. The beauty of it is its open-endedness.

Personally, I like to think Vessel is the one who walks out this time. Before, it was Eden, who left before she could truly walk away from him. This not only makes Eden Vessel's vice, in a way, but also makes them foils to one another. From a literary perspective, it is more satisfying to see Vessel take back the night, to see him seek true rest without needing to give himself to the ancient god. I also like this ending best because he finally is allowed to choose closure, which he hasn't had since Eden's departure.

The last part of the theory I have about the trilogy lore is how it's structured. The way I see it, this is a frame narrative. Vessel has lost Eden, seeks what Sleep offers, then the tokens begin by telling his and Eden's story. It's after their story has concluded that Sleep uses this to construct an illusion or apparition of Eden, and it's both everything Vessel has ever wanted and his downfall, if he goes far enough with it. How his and Sleep's story ends, if it ends, is still up to interpretation, though.

The themes of these three albums all go together quite nicely, with all of them serving to illustrate two separate cycles of grief - the grief Vessel feels with Eden and the grief Vessel feels with Sleep. They are both entwined, but both of them end in acceptance.

"You will not be mine. So give me the night, the night, the night."

#sleep token #sleep token lore #in this essay i will #honest to god haven't written an essay this cohesive in all my years of schooling #vessel sleep token #take me back to eden #sundowning #sleep token band #sleep token worship #worshitposting #sleep token analysis #this place will become your tomb

23 notes · View notes