Narrative timeline
As we navigate the Narrative Timeline, we move through the album in the order that respects the temporal period relevant to the given song. These temporal periods, identified as “events” in the Timeline, have been determined from the interpretation of materials in the blog, scrapbook, and lyrics. For each event, we have selected and clustered together the artifacts that pertain to H’s experiences and perspectives. The Narrative Timeline begins with Track 8, “Transience,” because it is connected to the earliest memory of our subject, H. The timeline then sweeps from one point on the map to another, in order to reflect the temporal contexts in relation to the song content.
Respecting the original song order of the album, the following is an interpretive summary of the narrative:
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1. First Regret |
2. 3 Years Older |
3. Hand Cannot Erase |
4. Perfect Life |
5. Routine |
6. Home Invasion |
7. Regret #9 |
8. Transience |
9. Ancestral |
10. Happy Returns |
11. Ascendant Here On… |
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In medias res (ancient storytelling convention): the album begins with the moment of crisis in the story as H asks “why stay” and “moves toward the medicine chest”. |
Memories of past relationships that had a formative impact on H’s life (boyfriend from whom she needed space; sister who “disappeared”). |
Story of another woman’s loss and denial that captures H’s interest. |
H discovers the city as a place to self-isolate; explores the temptations of social media; connects with a cat, but even the cat disappears from her life. |
Formative memory from childhood (train trip with mother).
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Deepest point of isolation; fascination with disappearance and the potential to “come back”. |
Sense of return to family connection (brother) but with clear resolve to disappear |
Ready to leave. |
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Based on the temporality of the events that occur, the ordering of the songs in the Narrative Timeline is outlined here:
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8. Transience |
4. Perfect Life |
3. Hand Cannot Erase |
6. Home Invasion |
7. Regret #9 |
5. Routine |
9. Ancestral |
10. Happy Returns |
1. First Regret |
2. 3 Years Older |
11. Ascendant Here On… |
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Event timeline |
Flashback: 1978-1991 |
Flashback: Adolescence |
Flashback: 1996-2000 |
2008-2011 Living in the city |
2011 |
2012-2014 |
Christmas, 2014 |
January – February, 2015 |
28 February 2015
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Please note that the spectrographic data in the background map was derived from Sonic Visualiser, with three layers from top to bottom: peak frequency spectrogram (channels mixed); full spectrogram (channels mixed); and waveform (channels separate). The map includes the data for all tracks of the album so that we can see the album in a single glance. The red number markers indicate the starting points for the individual tracks of the album, 1 through 11. These markers have been placed above the waveform data.