Everywhere at the End of Time

On the Bandcamp page of the complete edition as well as the YouTube upload,[9] a list of detailed descriptions to each stage accompanies the information about the album. In the series' description, Kirby states that "When work began on this series it was difficult to predict how the music would unravel itself. Dementia is an emotive subject for many and always a subject I have treated with maximum respect."[10]

Album art for Stage 1, titled "Beaten frowns after,"[11] depicting a rolled up sheet of paper/newspaper.

"Here we experience the first signs of memory loss.
This stage is most like a beautiful daydream.
The glory of old age and recollection.
The last of the great days."

Pat Beane from Tiny Mix Tapes noted the "splendor" found in the horn-dominant melody for track A4, "Childishly fresh eyes," combined with the "unsteady" piano presented on track A5, "Slightly Bewildered."[13] Brian Howe from Pitchfork stated that, although the description for Stage 1 suggests "a beautiful daydream," more extreme signs of breakdown are presented later on.[14] As an example, the critic notes the "almost toneless mooing" found on the instrumentals for track A5 or the "inner voice" from track A6, "Things that are beautiful and transient."[14]

Songs from the second half of this stage, such as track B2, "An autumnal equinox," and track B4, "The loves of my entire life," have been described by Howe as possessing "a winning gentleness."[14] However, Howe adds that "by the end, even gentleness has taken on a desperate tinge, as though if the dancing stops, everyone dies."[14] The record ends with, as described by Beane, "melodramatic swells" found on track B6, "My heart will stop in joy."[13]

The only methods of alteration Kirby makes to the samples are adding reverberation and looping sections to create longer pieces, as well as emphasizing the existing vinyl crackle in the mix. In making the first stage, Kirby described the mastering, as done by LUPO,[10] to be "really rich, really big, really consistent sounding all the way through".[15] This stage is often noticed by writers for its generally positive tone[16] and for being "functional, rich and warm" at the same time.[17]

Album art for Stage 2, titled "Pittor pickgown in khatheinstersper,"[18] depicting an abstract flower pot.

"The second stage is the self realisation and awareness that something is wrong with a refusal to accept that. More effort is made to remember so memories can be more long form with a little more deterioration in quality. The overall personal mood is generally lower than the first stage and at a point before confusion starts setting in."

Stage 2 is described as the stage in which "things take a more overtly upsetting turn"[17] and features another usage of "Heartaches" on track C3, "What does it matter how my heart breaks".[19] This stage mainly uses cheerful samples to create tension, such as on track C1, "A losing battle is raging."[20] Track titles from Stage 2 were noticed by some critics for their shift from the uplifting tone from Stage 1, such as "Childishly fresh eyes" and "An autumnal equinox," to the "extremely noticeable" heavy sadness on Stage 2, such as "Surrendering to despair" and "The way ahead feels lonely."[16]

In an interview with The Quietus, Kirby described the "switch" between the first and second album, specifically noting that instead of looping short sections of sampled material as with the first stage, he would let tracks play in full while stripping certain sections away.[15] Many tracks also incorporate echo and static noise to a far higher degree than the first stage, sometimes overtaking the mix to the point where the melody is semi-obscured. This stage has been described by James Catchpole from experimental music website Fluid Radio as "the stage of realisation, of despair, deep grief and feelings of futility."[21]

Album art for Stage 3, titled "Hag,"[18] the first stage in which the artwork does not depict a clearly recognizable object. It is widely suspected to be a piece of kelp or grass.

"Here we are presented with some of the last coherent memories before confusion fully rolls in and the grey mists form and fade away. Finest moments have been remembered, the musical flow in places is more confused and tangled. As we progress some singular memories become more disturbed, isolated, broken and distant. These are the last embers of awareness before we enter the post awareness stages."

Stage 3 features the last consistent melody that samples "Heartaches" on track E2, "And heart breaks," and has been described by Beach Sloth from Entropy as the most intriguing of the entire series.[22] Sloth notes a few Stage 3 tracks as some of the Caretaker's best work, from the "bled-dry" jaunt found on track E1, "Back there Benjamin," to the "disorientation" of the confusing melody from track E6, "Sublime beyond loss," a track which Sloth described as Kirby deliberately confusing the sample, making it "impossible to truly focus, letting it become lost."[22] However, Sloth describes the "otherworldly" lullaby of track E8, "Long term dusk glimpses," as the "true heart" of the project, for almost seemingly fighting the memory loss, and failing in doing so.[22]

Stage 3 has been described by Michael Barnett from This Is Darkness as the point where Kirby takes an interesting turn in the project for showing increasing influences of dark ambient music and a decreased focus on melody as it progresses, such as on track F3, "Internal bewildered world." It is the final stage in which samples are recognizable as their original melodies, which become more confused in the second half;[23] track F5, "Aching cavern without lucidity," has been described by Barnett as little more than a "droning murky memory" from what the previous tracks presented. This stage has been described by website No Wave as "The glory of remembrance usurped by panic"[17] and has been noted by Kirby as the most similar to his previous project An Empty Bliss Beyond This World, for featuring many samples which have been taken from the entire project's history.[15]

Album art for Stage 4, titled "Giltsholder."[18] It is the first cover art to present a human shape,[24] although with no discernible facial features.

"Post-Awareness Stage 4 is where serenity and the ability to recall singular memories gives way to confusions and horror. It's the beginning of an eventual process where all memories begin to become more fluid through entanglements, repetition and rupture."

Compared by Miles Bowe from Pitchfork to Oval's critically acclaimed 94 Diskont and to the end of The Shining,[24] Stage 4 marks the beginning of the "Post-Awareness" stages, on which individual tracks are not short and taken from one sample but rather 20 minutes long and featuring changing sections. These stages are often described as scarier, more bewildering,[25] and incredibly disjointed.[26] Several tracks from the Post-Awareness stages occupy whole vinyl sides and are named according to corresponding symptoms of dementia.[25] Bowe described Stage 4 as evolving the Caretaker sound in "often new and frightening ways" and as a record that "makes you feel surrounded, making you a participant rather than an observer."[20]

Tracks G1, H1, and J1—all of them named "Post Awareness Confusions"[20]—consist of distorted snippets of samples taken either from previous stages or from Kirby's previous projects under the Caretaker moniker.[23] As an example, "Goodnight, My Beautiful" by Russ Morgan appears multiple times on this album with distortions that make it almost completely unrecognizable.[20] Music website No Wave has described the first two tracks as the most visceral out of the entire stage, and notes the second one, H1, as having an almost unbearable "stretch of dark, judgement-day horns."[25] These tracks have also been described by Bowe as some of the "darkest, most damaged" noises of the entire series.[20] The record ends with J1, noted by No Wave as "an eerie quiet beginning to descend,"[25] and its abrupt ending being described by Bowe as making the album "even more devastating."[20]

While Bowe states that the "Post Awareness Confusions" tracks reach 'unexplored extremes' for the Caretaker, the 'dreamlike' features of track I1, "Temporary Bliss State," have been noted by the writer for leaving no trace of the ballroom samples that are associated with the series, but rather distorting its unknown source material into "pure ethereal abstraction;" the writer describes it as even more disorienting than any of the "Post Awareness Confusions" tracks, yet being "so beautiful it barely sounds like the Caretaker at all."[20] The track has been described by Michael Barnett from This Is Darkness as giving "a period of solace, a sort of mirage in an endless sea of barren sand dunes,"[23] and by No Wave as "a beautiful reprieve amongst the horror."[25] Barnett states that, while the track is still incredibly disjointed, it is also "quite beautiful, and certainly peaceful in its own way."[23]

Album art for Stage 5, titled "Eptitranxisticemestionscers desending,"[27] the second stage in which the artwork presents a completely unrecognizable object. It is thought to be a lady in a dress dancing down a set of stairs.

"Post-Awareness Stage 5 confusions and horror.
More extreme entanglements, repetition and rupture can give way to
calmer moments. The unfamiliar may sound and feel familiar.
Time is often spent only in the moment leading to isolation."

Stage 5 takes more inspiration from noise music in its usage of samples, which are primarily static noise without melody, with the exceptions of brief moments where clarity is restored. Track titles from this stage are names of specific characteristics of Alzheimer's Disease, such as amyloid plaques, neurofibrillary tangles, and the hypothesis of synapse retrogenesis. It has been described by experimental music publication Fluid Radio as being "some of Kirby's most complex, experimental work."[28]

Album art for Stage 6, titled "Necrotomigaud,"[18] depicting what is widely thought to be a blank canvas or the back of an old, frameless painting held onto the wall with blue tape. This may also depict an art board, used to hold a blank page or work in progress with masking tape, but without an art piece or paper on which to depict a subject.

"Post-Awareness Stage 6 is without description."

Stage 6 consists of drones constructed from vinyl surface noise and severely slowed-down samples which are no longer recognizable to the listener. Track titles from this stage further present the themes of "confusions and horror" which previous stages mentioned, such as "A confusion so thick you forget forgetting" and "A brutal bliss beyond this empty defeat".[29][30]

The final track of the album, "Place in the world fades away", begins with static noise similar to the previous tracks on the album, but eventually shifts to an organ drone before shifting to a recording of a female choir and cutting out suddenly.[31] In Everywhere at the End of Time, this segment has various interpretations: some interpret it as being the phenomenon of terminal lucidity, while others interpret it as the "soul" of the Caretaker being taken to the afterlife.[32][33] The entire record ends with 1 minute of silence, representing the death of the Caretaker character;[34]as usually one minute of silence is mandatory to pay respect for a dead person. This final segment of the album has been described by various commentators and critics as the most emotionally affecting and tragic part of the entire series.[35][36]

A visual representation of the first two stages was created and released by WEIRDCORE.TV, Stage 1 being released the same day as the original release and Stage 2 being released approximately 3 months after the original release. The YouTube upload for the visual representation of the second stage features a different tracklisting.[40][41] As of December 2020, the music videos for the other stages are yet to be released: according to a comment by Kirby on the We Are The Music Makers Forums, while Kirby says that the music videos for the other stages will be happening, the reason they weren't released in line with his releases was because WEIRDCORE.TV was making videos for Aphex Twin, therefore not having enough time to make music videos for Kirby.[42]