SLEEP TOKEN LORE

FULL SLEEP TOKEN LORE

. ONE

"Thread the Needle" - (Sleep -> Vessel) Sleep seduces Vessel for the first time, and already starts to take control of Vessel's mind by making time dilate. They offer Vessel someone to confide in, and to erase his past mistakes with. "Bury me inside this labyrinth bed" just signifies Vessel going to sleep.

"Fields of Elation" - (Vessel) Vessel's perspective as he succumbs to Sleep for the first time. He's "losing faith in their time apart" and thinks "nobody else can pull him out" of his past mistakes. This in my opinion makes Vessel much more complex than I imagined. Yes, Sleep is a malicious force that devours souls and feasts on vulnerable people by manipulating them, but Vessel also only values Sleep because they make him feel better about his past. They both do not value one another and are only with each other to serve themselves. The foundation of a toxic relationship.

"When the Bough Breaks" - (Sleep -> Vessel) Sleep begins to gaslight Vessel. They tell him he's powerless without them and makes him feel bad about himself saying he "doesn't love, just hates to be alone" so he'll be scared and never leave. Sleep also does not believe Vessel is devoted to them and repeats the line "don't lie to me" probably in response to what Vessel says in "Fields of Elation" about Sleep being the only one to pull him out and how devoted he is to them. They also expand on how great they would be together.

II. TWO

"Calcutta" - (Vessel -> Sleep) This EP came a year after the last one so this song just serves as an update to everyone getting everyone up to speed on Vessel and Sleep's relationship without adding any new significant events. Vessel just gushes over Sleep and tells them how they make him feel whole.

"Nazareth" - Probably the darkest song in their entire catalog. As Sleep was skeptical of Vessel's devotion to them before, Vessel aims to prove his devotion by torturing and inflicting pain to his past lover (whom he probably already treated wrong considering his "past mistakes" that he seeks to overcome the guilt of with Sleep, this is a huge leap but let's call her Eden). The constant use of "load the gun", "I'll show you what you look like from the inside", and "See if she can guess what a hollow point does to a naked body" show that Vessel intends to shoot her, and I believe he does. Sleep now believes Vessel.

"Jericho" - (Sleep) This song is basically Sleep just boasting after finally acquiring Vessel as a... well, vessel. They talk about how they "dine on old encounters" before telling Vessel he is completely under their thumb and tells him to "say their name again". This song also seems to be frantically skipping between Vessel and Sleep. "My hands are not worthy" is Vessel reflecting what he's done while Sleep boasts about their victory and control over Vessel.

III. JAWS - (Vessel -> Sleep) Now that Vessel and Sleep are entangled, Vessel asks Sleep to show him love by eating him. Now it is unclear whether this is what Vessel truly likes or if Sleep makes him believe that, but either way this is what Sleep wanted so they're okay with it. There's many more times Vessel asks Sleep to "take a bite" of him and many more references to vorarephilia (even a song called "Vore") so maybe Vessel just wants that.

IV. "The Way that You Were" - (Vessel -> Eden) This songs seems to be about Vessel reminiscing about Eden perhaps talking to her in a dream (considering they're probably not on speaking terms after he literally shot her). Eden is a very troubled soul, with repeated patterns of self harm, and Vessel has an imaginary conversation with her talking about it. Vessel shows no remorse for how he treated her and does not comfort her in any way, showing he has a long way to go for his redemption (in "Are You Really Okay?"). He just says all these things in a very stoic fashion.

V. SUNDOWNING

"The Night Does Not Belong To God" - (Vessel) Again like "Calcutta" this song serves as a way to get us up to speed on Vessel and Sleep's relationship. Sleep comes to Vessel when he um, falls asleep and talks to him then. Vessel sees this as pure bliss as he repeats "the night comes down like heaven". Vessel also knows Sleep "will not be his" which acts as foreshadowing for the rest of the album as he slowly realises Sleep does not care about his well being and is with him only for their own selfish interest.