Review Summary: If I ever wanted my life to be a movie, its soundtrack could only be this album.
I want the last seconds of my life, where I should be supposed to take my last breath and remember my whole life in a succession of memories, to be plagued by the sensation of listening to this.
I want to feel the peacefulness that can only be perceived while listening to this kind of dreamy chords. To relive the sequences of atmospheres and sensations of nothingness, over and over, forever. I want my time on earth to be a collection of faded black and white pictures that only this type of songs can hold together.
I want for me to feel as infinite and timeless as these sounds, while also being able to feel like it’s just been a while.
Listening to this makes you look at everything from the distance with a sepia filter. It makes you feel like you could film the greatest movie ever, or write a masterpiece in a few hours. And it makes you dread with melancholy at the same time.
This album is worth a hundred inspirational talks and a thousand tragic stories. It makes you savor the joy of life and the bitterness of death. Makes you imagine yourself as a kid in a playground, and as an old man alone in an asylum. It makes you remember the beginning of your life and makes you wonder about its end. It’s like it intends for you to feel like you’re being caressed with your own memories and expectations. It makes you cry and smile at the same time.
It’s remarkable how these songs can make you forget all context and make you focus merely on the feeling of just being able to listen to them, no matter where you are or how you’re feeling. They adapt to you and vice versa. And this is what makes this album truly beautiful. The textures. The atmosphere.
So simple, yet so detailed and powerful. Without rush. Soft, minimalistic and brilliant at the same time. Unimaginably contemplative, and elegant. Open to your own interpretation and feelings. Dreamy, ethereal, and patient.
The songs pass by and you are always left wanting to go back and listen to them again and again. No matter how many times or where you press play, it’s always an engaging and smooth drive through some faded memory you’re not even sure it belongs to you.
This album is a universe in its own. A universe you don’t ever want to let go of. It compels you only to pay attention and enjoy the ride; to close your eyes and let go of everything, so you can discover something new every time you listen to it. This is raw feeling, devoid of any words but still full of significance and remembrance. This is chords, melody and ambience working together in the most harmonious way possible, and with this atmosphere and sentimentality present through all the tracks, A Winged Victory for the Sullen has crafted one of the most beautiful albums of all time.
I only wish that this masterpiece remains as important to me throughout my life as it is now, and I hope I’ll be able to listen to something alike in the future.
