Review Summary: read this with your eyes closed and daydream with me
You’re awake but in a dreamlike state; the lenses on your eyes have been tinted with a cloudy pink and yellow and your mind is light and free. Looking down, you realize your hands are those of a child and it feels as if your mind awoke from its incognizant slumber. The homey room around you seems unfamiliar yet strangely comfortable. You’re at peace here, ready to experience everything the world has to offer you yet unaware of what there truly is to explore. You float, amble. Fuzz overtakes the nerve endings throughout your body as you crack open the wooden door. You hear something.
It’s a man singing, his voice soft, angelic and carefree within the misleading safety of solidarity. His melodies naturally float and fill the room with sweet reverberation as your body enters the empty, barren space. A window beams in light that reveals the dust particles hovering in the warm air. They move with the music which sways and expands beyond the notes of a human’s inflection. A warm piano flutters into the mix followed by a blurred and intimate guitar that gently wriggles its way in. You’re close to paradise. You close your eyes and daydream.
The man sorrowfully looks around the room and sings, “
everybody needs somebody // to hold them down // when your feet are leaving the ground ”. The words fly by your ears and although you don’t understand their message, you recognize the feeling of longing. Relaxed yet subtly yearning for something you slip into your skin, now worn and snug. The man glances at you with a smile and you begin to wonder how long he has noticed your presence, but his demeanor radiates nothing but delight. He sings to you now, “
don’t be fooled // don’t be afraid // nothing’s really ever supposed to last ”. A giver of truths, he now plays you tales of what you will soon experience. As you listen, his stories tell of the true weight of the world and the storms he himself has trudged through. He senses your fear and uneasiness and pauses, letting his piano speak for itself in a fluttering of harmoniously plucked notes. Feeling relieved, you let your mind meander again and a name pops into your psyche: Mr. Tom. You decide to grant it to the piano, making you internally grin.
Your trance-like state is awakened by the whispering of words. The world he spoke of that was once tainted with the monochromaticity of greys now chirps in a flourishing abundance of luscious colors: life. Impassioned, the man now sings with a newfound sense of optimism. He excitedly breezes through narratives describing the sweet taste of existence and details all of the emotions you have yet to understand or encounter. His euphoria is contagious and so you drift along with him. Laughing now, he paints an image of vast oceans and recounts a playful tale of a man that lives under the sea. The absurdity of the story makes you laugh as well. “
I was so happy there, under the sea ” he articulates, letting the words linger; you start to sense a change in his tone. He sits back at his piano and sings of an escape. You wonder if he is trapped in this house and before you can ask he ushers you out of the room. Your eyes are now heavy and dull and the music switches to a robotic lullabye. He addresses you as a sleeping beauty before your mind fades out for the day. As you dream, animals come to life in the form of cartoon-like characters, and soon all of them gather in a circle around you. Locking arms they spin leaving you dizzy and confused. Darkness ensues.
...
A bright light shines through your eyelids and awakens you. As a familiar melody plays, you get up and impatiently enter the room where the man once was, hoping to hear his voice again. Disappointed, you realize he has left, but a note lays on his piano bench. It reads, “
let’s fill that hole up in the sky // don’t be afraid to care // I’m sure you’ll find yourself there ”. It’s signed Mr. Tom. An arrow points behind you, and as you turn around you see a door, open and inviting: a portal to the outside world. You walk through it. The adventure of life awaits.
