"A Disappearing Act"

Album Art by Chase Stone.

## Music Video

Official Music Video on YouTube

**"A Disappearing Act"** is a song by the American rock band Coheed and Cambria. It is the fourth single and fifth song on their 2022 album *Vaxis - Act II: A Window of the Waking Mind*.

## Lyrics

**[Verse 1]**

He lives inside an existence that strays far beyond

The time perceived as normal, *(he)* bends all limitation

A king among the binary waves, conjoined

In our reality, perceived to be null and void

While I wait for him to show me a sign or be destroyed

I implore... go on walk all over me

**[Pre-Chorus]**

I'm a long, long way from giving up

Call me old fashion, call me a fool

His eyes a shade from waking up

A boy lost in the pattern

Over and over, rеpeat

**[Chorus]**

How long have you waited hеre?

For someone to touch you

For someone to hear you scream?

It's okay to be afraid, I'm here with you

**[Verse 2]**

Will we allow

Ourselves a cure before it does harm?

How long before the mind begins to weak

Before it fails to witness

Before it gets a fair chance to start?

**[Pre-Chorus]**

I'm a long, long way from giving up

Call me old fashion, call me a fool

His eyes a shade from waking up

A boy lost in the pattern

Over and over, repeat

**[Chorus]**

How long have you waited here?

For someone to touch you

For someone to hear you scream?

It's okay to be afraid, I'm here with you

**[Bridge]**

A world in limbo, waiting, opening up

A world in limbo waiting to open for us

A world in limbo, waiting, opening up

A world in limbo, waiting

A world in limbo, waiting, opening up

A world in limbo waiting to open for us

A world in limbo, waiting, opening up

A world in limbo, waiting

**[Chorus]**

How long have you waited here?

For someone to touch you

For someone to hear you scream?

It's okay to be afraid, I'm here with you

**[Outro]**

My love, we'll make it

My hands, you can leave or take them

We're strong enough to face this fear

Now watch time disappear *(oh)*

Time disappear *(oh)*

## Music Video

On July 1, 2022, the Coheed socials put out a call for any COTF in Nashville asking them to fill out a registration form. One week later, the band began filming the music video for this song, explicitly saying they were in Nashville, and sharing behind the scenes photos. On August 8th, 2022, the band tweeted that they had been hacked and posted a ransom note to their socials, signed Candelaria, that encouraged fans to listen to the song to save them. A few days later, a video of "Candelaria" was posted, with more or less the same message, mentioning that his great plan would unfold on the 222nd of 2022 (August 10th). The next day, they posted a preview of the video saying that Candelaria's final "Act" would be shown the next day.

The video was directed by Max Moore, who also directed "Shoulders". Chondra Echert plays Candelaria.

```

```

## Story Context

This song seems to be from Sirius Amory and Vaxis's perspective. It doesn't seem to have a counterpart specifically in the book.

In the first Verse, we see through Amory's eyes: he recognizes Vaxis and his power. He seems to not necessarily be able to communicate so he waits for him to notice him. In the pre-chorus he confirms he won't give up no matter what. He then describes the film over Vaxis' eyes and his struggle to navigate the real world and what he sees in his mind's eye.

The chorus brings us Vaxis' point of view: he recognizes Amory and can tell he's been there an extremely long time; that he's beyond lonely. And then he reassures him he's with him. Now, this may be describing the silent parts, or what is happening in the mind, in the last chapter of the book, before Vaxis pulls Amory out of the Quintillian Speaker.

The second verse almost seems to be how Vaxis may perceive his parents' view of his situation: they have no idea what will "cure" him and use hard drugs to help with pain they can't be sure of. And they are especially worried about how long Vaxis could stay in this state before it's not humane to keep him alive. The pre-chorus and chorus that comes after this takes on a new meaning: Amory recognizes Vaxis loneliness as well. Vaxis is also trapped, though in a different way.

The bridge could be the two figures both coming to the same conclusion: they are waiting to "wake up." The outro supports this by starting with Amory ("My love, we'll make it"), Vaxis follows ("My hands, you can leave or take them"), and the ending depicts their resolve ("We're strong enough to face this fear") and ultimately what they believe will be the outcome (time disappearing). This makes sense as time may not hold much meaning for those who have essentially been in a coma for such an extended period of time.

## Background

Using the pandemic as an analogy, Sanchez felt that being in confinement made him miss several years and more directly took people out from under him and his family while sequestered.

## Trivia

* The main guitar part was melded with a sequence via synth.
* An accoustic version was performed at the Rough Trade release event in NY on June 24th.

## References

1. ↑ https://genius.com/Coheed-and-cambria-a-disappearing-act-lyrics
2. ↑ Coheed and Cambria. Booklet. *Vaxis - Act II: A Window of the Waking Mind*, Roadrunner Records, 2022.
3. ↑ https://twitter.com/Coheed/status/1542943755031814145
4. ↑ https://twitter.com/Coheed/status/1545126213332639746
5. ↑ https://discord.com/channels/938233719142121482/949323730268586054/994735871611912232
6. ↑ https://twitter.com/Coheed/status/1555601146114220037
7. ↑ https://twitter.com/Coheed/status/1556750073823764483
8. ↑ https://twitter.com/Coheed/status/1557079568288100353
9. ↑ https://www.reddit.com/r/TheFence/comments/vklxyl/claudios\_trackbytrack\_descriptions\_from\_allmusic/
10. ↑ https://youtu.be/GGhiu2XVv4c
11. ↑ https://www.twitch.tv/videos/1512866669