Vicarious Posted April 29, 2018 Share Posted April 29, 2018 It's not often that I find an album that has lyrics I can relate to in terms of my sexuality. This is an excerpt written by Moses and included with the album: Quote In an excerpt from Plato's Symposium, Aristophanes recounts the origins of love. According to his Greek mythology, humans were once four-legged, four-armed, and double-sexed. Fearing human beings were becoming too powerful, the deity Zeus sliced them in half, leaving their heads facing inward so they could eternally measure their bodies' absences. They were thus doomed to feel incomplete until they found their other halves. And when they did, they would throw their arms around each other and weave their flesh in an attempt to become one again. In the Bible's Genesis, after creating Adam (the prototype), God realizes that he requires a mate. He rips a rib from Adam's body and begets Eve, a built-in lifelong partner. Many of the origin stories about the inception of our species establish this blueprint for coexistence – that every body has an equal and opposite body, a destined companion without which we are incomplete. Our modern construct of romance still upholds this paradigm; romantic love is the paramount prize of existence. But what if I can't access that prize? In response to this construct, Aromanticism is a concept album about lovelessness as a sonic dreamscape. It seeks to interrogate the idea that romance is normative and necessary. This isn't protest music, however, as much as it is process music. It's the 2am sweat you wake up in, processing that lonesomeness might not just be a transitory hallway you're passing through en route to inevitable partnership. It's recognizing statelessness as stasis. It's admitting that you still desperately crave affection, even if you're not fully capable of returning it. It's admitting that your favorite self-empowerment chorus, “I may be alone but I'm not lonely!” is, often, bullshit. It's wondering why, as a first grader, you would unbox your markers and couple them into personified pairs. It's wondering why every restaurant you take yourself to has each table pre-set for two. It's wondering how privileged people can feel love interpersonally but still adhere to systems of social hierarchy that cause them to treat othered groups with loveless indifference. It's wondering if our urgent fear of dying alone is cellularly inherent or socially inherited. It's wondering – if God is love, but you don't feel love, are you a godless being? Alternative titles for Aromanticism could be: Narcissus; Don't Touch Me; Please Touch Me; Sure, Let's Touch Each Other but Please Leave Right After We Cum; Grey A; It's Not You, It's Me; It's Not You – Actually, It's Not Anyone; It's Not Me, It's My Childhood. The not-yet-dictionary definition of an “aromantic” is someone who doesn't experience romantic love, or does to a diminished, abnormal degree. I'm just trying to get it out from over the squiggly red line. Moses Here's a link to the official Youtube playlist for the album if you haven't already heard it. Link to post Share on other sites
Yeast Posted April 29, 2018 Share Posted April 29, 2018 2 hours ago, Vicarious said: In the Bible's Genesis, after creating Adam (the prototype), God realizes that he requires a mate. He rips a rib from Adam's body and begets Eve, a built-in lifelong partner. The way it really is The Devil : I was once my master's favorite but man came between us. I shall destroy man and be my master's favorite once again. Eve : I was young and in love but also incredibly naive. Evil crept into my life and threatened to separate me from my lover, so I had to hurt him. Adam : God created a paradise for me but I soon got bored. God then created a partner for me and we both got bored. I then got by with a little help from my friends.... Link to post Share on other sites
Pramana Posted April 30, 2018 Share Posted April 30, 2018 While I like the idea of deconstructing the favouritism accorded to romantic relationships, I have yet to hear a concept album that wasn't pretentious and sophomoric. Link to post Share on other sites
Divide By Zero Posted May 5, 2018 Share Posted May 5, 2018 On 4/29/2018 at 2:10 PM, Vicarious said: They were thus doomed to feel incomplete until they found their other halves. I am asexual and aromantic and I am whole and complete. I do not need an "other half". However, society struggles to understand and accept this. Link to post Share on other sites
blueheroness Posted May 9, 2018 Share Posted May 9, 2018 The album is really good. A friend told me about it on Sunday and I've been listening to it. The songs and the mvs are really moving and haunting. Link to post Share on other sites
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