Everywhere at the End of Time

A picture of the album cover from Stage 1, called "Beaten Frowns After"

Everywhere at the End of Time is the eleventh album by the English musician The Caretaker (Leyland Kirby). Released between 2016 and 2019, its six studio albums use degrading loops of sampled ballroom music to portray the progression of Alzheimer's disease and/or dementia. The albums were produced in Krakow and released over six-month periods to "give a sense of time passing", with abstract album covers by his friend Ivan Seal. They are named simply Stage 1, Stage 2, Stage 3, Stage 4, Stage 5, and Stage 6.

The series comprises six hours of music, portraying a range of emotions and characterised by noise throughout. The albums reflect the patient's disorder and death, their feelings, and the phenomenon of terminal lucidity. The album covers received attention from a French art exhibition afterwards.

## Background

In 2011, Kirby released *An Empty Bliss Beyond This World*, attaining acclaim for its exploration of Alzheimer's disease. Although Kirby initially did not want to produce more music as the Caretaker, 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 left to explore was the "stages of dementia". 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 itself, with many samples from the pseudonym's earlier albums being used in it.

## Stages

### Stage 1 (Side A and B)

Stage 1 of Everywhere at the End of Time released on September 22, 2016. It shows the initial signs of memory deterioration, and is described as a daydreamy thing. It includes ballroom music from the 20's and 30's reverberated and slowed down to show deterioration.

The samples are still able to be heard quite easily on this album.

### Stage 2 (Side C and D)

Stage 2 of Everywhere at the End of Time released on April 6, 2017. It shows the self-realization of the dementia patient that they have it, and refusal to accept that fact. It seems to be much less cheerful and has a change in mood. The songs are more deteriorated in quality, showing further deterioration.

### Stage 3 (Side E and F)

Stage 3 of Everywhere at the End of Time released on September 28, 2017. It shows the last coherent memories of the patient before they all fade away, seeing the last coherent samples. The very end shows the last moments of awareness before the Post-Awareness stages move in. The songs are almost unrecognizable at this point.

### Stage 4 (Side G, H, I, and J)

Stage 4 of Everywhere at the End of Time released on April 5, 2018. It shows the last of the ability to recall memories as that fades into confusion and pure horror for us and the patient. It has 4 songs each being one whole side. It features the notorious and unknown "Hell Sirens". The samples are unrecognizable but possible to find.

### Stage 5 (Side K, L, M, N)

Stage 5 of Everywhere at the End of Time released on September 20, 2018. It shows more extreme entanglements, repetition and rupture which can give way to calmer moments for the patient. It shows the severe plaque entanglements in the brain and shows complete disorder.

### Stage 6 (Side O, P, Q, R)

Stage 6 of Everywhere at the End of Time released on March 14, 2019. It was the last release under the moniker "The Caretaker". It shows pure post-awareness and impossible to recognize sounds. The last song shows what is called "terminal lucidity", when in the last 5 minutes, you seem to hear church bells, believed to be a suddenly clear memory of childhood. The last minute of the song are completely silent, believed to be the death of the patient.

## Production

The song was produced by Leyland James Kirby in Krakow, Poland on a computer made for the purpose of creating music. All albums were produced around a year before release.

## Song Listing

*Stage 4*
 Total length:

*Stage 5*
 Total length:

*Stage 6*
 Total length:

## Personnel

Leyland James Kirby - production

Ivan Seal - artwork

Andreas Lubich - mastering