distraction of the endless.

and keeping that in mind in brings me back to this one fundamental fact: vessel is a nerd. a massive, gargantuan, millenial nerd. he sees music not just as something you feel but an actual environment you can explore, a world unto itself. he's passionate about so many different things and he explores those through song, even when the actual content of the lyrics is deeply personal.

which has led me to believe that the lore is actually a vehicle: it's just present enough to incentivize other nerds to dig a little deeper and uncover something new about the world around them. without saying anything outright, vessel's gone look, see this? isn't this cool?

and for the people that care enough to look close, they see it. they learn something new about alchemy and whale falls and point nemo. it facilitates learning in the best way possible, through mystery and intrigue, and people feel rewarded for putting in effort within the framework of a band they love. that's pretty fucking awesome.

and i think it says something that in TPWBYT, an album depicting what might be the lowest points of vessel's life, he still had these facts tucked away inside the album. in the trenches of his mental health, he still saw beauty in the world he wanted others to appreciate, too.