#create;release

[moonchild-in-blue]

"the heavens just won't open up for me" Sundowning

Alright, I'm putting some thoughts here, so feel free to skip it if you don't wanna see me ramble on and on.

A few days ago I made a post comparing Distraction with Infinite Baths, and how both albums follow a similar circular path, with Tomb being a spiral, and Arcadia being a circle (feel free to check the post for more on that). I thought that visual was really interesting, and it got me thinking - how would I visually represent each album's path? So here we are (thank you @a-s-levynn for your precious help with it 🥹💙).

Sundowning plays a lot with religious (specifically Christian) themes - the recurring motifs of angels, god(s), divinity, and the whole heaven/hell thing. We start the album with "the night comes down like heaven" and end with "the heavens just won't open up for me". From "you live by daylight" and the whole of Levitate-

Will  you levitate Up where the angels inhabit? Will you levitate Where I won't reach you?

-we get the sense that heaven - a place of light, of holiness, of peace - is (or will be) the domain of whoever he is singing to, and therefore unattainable to him (maybe he was cast away, maybe the gods do not deem him worthy).

The night - when the light is gone, and where the gods have no power over it - the time were he and his lover are together (perhaps in secret), the time he feels some respite and affection (in contrasts with the constant fighting during daytime), is the closest heaven he will ever reach. And it's still isn't enough.

Even when he gets a taste of what divinity feels like, the gods, ever inexorable, take that away from him again and again. Almost as if his pain and suffering, his blood, is what keeps them up above, untouchable. Like a game he's always bound to lose, but keeps playing anyways (like he will say again later on, "rather be six under than be lonely").

I thought it'd be interesting to lean on the religious side of it and go for the Trinity symbol, with the Sundowning cover art. An incomplete triangle; denied sanctification. A facsimile of heaven in the nighttime, down bellow.

[moonchild-in-blue]

"before i pull myself beneath the waves (it's too late for me)" This Place Will Become Your Tomb

More yapping ahead, read at your own risk 🫡

Second one! This was the one that started this series, as seen on this post. Tomb has my favourite concept of the albums - the water themes, the whale fall metaphor. It certainly is the one I (unfortunately) relate to the most.

The album artwork and visual concept point to descending coordinates in the ocean (up until the deepest point known so far), to a whale fall, and to Point Nemo (the farthest point from land). And lyric-wise, TPWBYT alludes again and again to a gradual sinking, a downwards spiral from bad to worse.

Again, shout out to @a-s-levynn for pointing out the whale eye shape/ similarity - falling into the eyes of the whale like a grave is a whole poem on itself 💙

Distraction in particular, being constructed over a loop, is perhaps the most blatant example of that descent - the constant repetition screams of pacing back and forth in your own pain, like you can never escape the bad thoughts from dragging you down.

Oh, and I know I can tell I'm falling further again But I won't turn away, it's far too late for me (...) It's too late for me It's too late for me It's too late for me It's too late for me It's too late for me It's too late for me It's too late for me It's too late

I was debating a lot which line would fit best for this - two of my favourite contenders were Atlantic's "don't wake me up" or "flood me like Atlantic" and Telomeres' "beyond the farthest reaches / where the light bends and breaks beneath us". Ultimately the High Water / Distraction combo just felt the best.

I discarded Atlantic because it made waaay too sad (no surprises there, yall know I love that song). Telomeres was almost the final one, but given the oh so romantic nature of the song, I felt like it would perhaps deter a bit from my intended concept? Because Telo, to me, is one of the few slivers of hope in the album, but as a whole Tomb encapsulates that feeling of hopelessness and desperation perfectly (ending Missing Limbs with an interrupted transmission is vile actually. Jail for you my love, absolutely not).

I could go more in depth about the whole water/ washing/ flood/ dive/ blue metaphors, but I would NEVER shut up, and I'd like to think this speaks for itself so. Woah, deep waters be upon ye 💙🌊

[moonchild-in-blue]

Here are some more sketches and ideas for the Create ; Release Sleep Token illustrations. I've been super busy and this took a bit of a backseat, but we're getting there baby!

When will I finally finish it? Who knows. (it's coming soon though)

I am starting with TPWBYT because it's been creeping up on my mind alot these past months, and I have some *bigger* plans for the other two.

If you're interesting to see more of this art project, I'll be tagging everything as #create;release, and I've created a little Masterpost for this as well. So there!

[moonchild-in-blue]

Some more tiny sketches that won't be used, but looked kinda cool, because why not ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

[moonchild-in-blue]

Create ; Release

A Sleep Token illustration project

Edit - May 2025 (lmao)

Obviously this didn't went as expected, but after a very long hiatus I'm once again working on this. I've decided to change the format a little bit, so this might not be posted as linear as planned. I'm keeping it simple and fun 💙

(see under the cut for my original post)

I've talked a bit about this art project before, but now that I'm close to finish painting the 1st round, I can finally make a Serious Master Post about it (to make it easier to find and because I need to have everything neatly organised or else I die).

Create ; Release is a series of painted illustrations for each Sleep Token album, where each song will have its own individual painting based on my favourite lyrics, tied together by a colour palette. They won't necessarily relate to the ST lore, even though there will be some elements included. I'm going for a bit more abstract/conceptual approach, so to speak.

I'm starting with This Place because 1) it's been on my mind a lot recently; 2) for some reason the colour blue has been incredibly inspiring for me (Darya's Blue Period era); 3) I just felt like it 💙

The original plan is to make the 3 albums, but I might expand to include the EPs and 2 singles. This project has been a lot a bit taxing and time-consuming, but incredibly fun and satisfying to make!

[Because I know myself, I'll hold off posting the final illustrations until I've had the whole album scanned and ready. That way, I'll make sure to actually finish it, and you won't wait ages between songs (there will be however a few weeks of waiting time between albums, to allow myself time to have them all pretty and ready!) I will be sharing a few sneak-peeks and what-not with you while creating them 😘]

Links and Tags (will update as we go):

All posts will be tagged as #create;release

Sundowning

Tag -> #create;release sun

This Place Will Become Your Tomb

Tag -> #create;release tpwbyt

Atlantic | Hypnosis | Mine | Like That | The Love You Want | Fall For Me | Alkaline | Distraction | Descending | Telomeres | High Water | Missing Limbs

Take Me Back To Eden

Tag -> #create;release tmbte

Bonus:

Sneak-Peeks / Sketches

Tag -> #create;release bts

One (tbd)

Two (tbd)

Jaws / TWTYW (tbd)

If this is something you're interested in keeping up with, or if you're from the future and are going through this because you're sooo in love with my art and me (kidding), a big massive THANK YOU from the depths of my heart 🥺.

Your support and encouragement mean the world to me! 🌙💙✨