The top tier on the These fleeting moments Kickstarter included a one-of-a-kind art box. I am now sharing the first box with you, as well as Scott’s really lovely reflections on the piece of art I created for him….
The art box I received from Sam after the fundraising campaign for These fleeting moments has a prominent spot next to my listening chair. It makes for a nice decoration and reminds me of how interesting it was to hear songs from These fleeting moments on Patreon as they progressed from initial sound sketches to the finished double-LP. The wooden box contains a bass nestled among twigs and surrounded by small images of Mercy (from the cover photo shoot) posing inside the bass. What follows is a summary of my thoughts about the art box and how it relates to the album:
There are only a very few leaves on the twigs and thus the suggestion of the Gothic idea of All Beauty Is Sad (because it always comes to an end), but the box has never seemed like a casket to me. Rather, it reinforces the album’s lyrical theme of living life to the fullest (“if only i could live a little more”). The branches (“trees”) and the bass are all wood and seem to grow out of the soil at the base of the box (“reaching out i’m limitless”) as if they were alive. There is life to be found in music and artistic expression in general, and all art is interactive to some degree – “you’re present in every moment, and every moment is in you.” The combination of twigs and bass struck me as symbolic of music and sound being part of daily life and of the natural landscape.
Of course, These fleeting moments also touches on emotions like sadness and frustration – it is, after all, a Black tape for a blue girl album – and the band treats us to the entire panorama of human emotion. Sam’s art box addresses these unhappy themes for me with the images of Mercy, which can represent everything from innocence to desire, ideals to daydreams. They are like seeds (in the ground below the bass) and sunlight from above, giving the bass (representing music, existence, etc.) life and energy by evoking beauty and encouraging acts of expression and growth… “let’s hold hands now and together we’ll leap.”
I have experienced life’s ups and downs as much as anyone, and I find These fleeting moments to be very relatable and thought-provoking. It’s interesting how, in the context of the album, this box of seemingly unrelated objects has created such inspiration for me. It’s my personal reminder that “it’s fine, i’m fine, it’s time to move on.”
– Scott M