Vacant Care Decoded: a poem hidden in it's tracklist
I wrote an article elsewhere about my strategic use of the word "try," and how it created a subtle subplot woven throughout Vacant Care. I'm very proud of how that turned out.
It's a fun exercise to restrict yourself from using a common phrase, in order to give it greater meaning in the long run. I know it's something the listener likely wouldn't notice, but it was a point I made sure to implement in this very personal project.
I feel that it helped take my mind off some painful events that occurred during production. I didn't want to dwell on the major issues that bothered me, so the "try" side quest was a neat way of transforming Vacant Care into a rap infused puzzle of sorts.
I'm never trying to beat the Massive Nerd accusations, just so we're clear. 🤓
Speaking of which... take the capital letters from the Vacant Care tracklist: AROTHMSAELDSDF.
The message will be revealed in a few bars, to be used in the current unnamed project I'm working on. 🔎
Again, I wrote Vacant Care while studying unusual poetic forms. There's a lot of subtext buried in the lyrics of this album, and I don't think I'll ever get around to utilizing all the concepts I tried to develop in these songs.
The main issue is that I'm no longer in that brooding mood.
I'm in a much better place, so perhaps calling it an "issue" is inaccurate. I no longer want to harp on unpleasant things. I've finally moved past the need to point them out, and I don't want to return to that mindset.
With that being said, this tracklist poem represents an idea that I still find quite useful. Even if I become one of those "happy-go-lucky" types, I know the messaging here is still very relevant.
One cool thing about setting up references like this in advance is that the writing process for future albums becomes much easier. I have a handful of things I'm not going to explain, but they are linked to both Vacant Care and ruin in some way. This Easter egg, however, is something I wanted to make known, and I hope to clarify when the album is ready for release.
