#75: Time is a Flat Circle
On the Art Balloon, the Time DVD, and the inescapable cycles of the universe.
Currently listening to: I Lied To You by Miles Caton (from SINNERS)
In honor of SINNERS’ record-setting 16 Oscar nominations, I’m returning to one of the film’s most striking scenes: when Miles Caton’s character Sammie unleashes this song (now nominated for Best Original Song) and the past, present, and future all sing together.
Hello, friend.
The first letter I ever wrote to you was about how the act of creation is also an act of theft. (By the way, that was 84 weeks and 74 issues ago… trippy.)
In that inaugural issue, I considered the way jazz musicians improvise—the way their music seems to spring out of their souls like a fountain of fresh sound, never heard before. That is true, in a way. Their riffing was never heard before in exactly that way, and it will never be heard again in exactly that way.
I also considered how, no matter how original, new, and unique a work of art seems, it is, at its core, the result of the works that came before it. We, the artists, are products of the artists who came before us.
Plenty of folks have discussed this—in that old letter, I mentioned Picasso and T.S. Eliot’s quotes about how “great artists steal.” Austin Kleon wrote a book about it.
I like to imagine capital A “Art” as an unburstable water balloon—the Art Balloon. As new artists come along and let their fountains flow into the balloon, it grows and stretches, an everlasting ocean of human creativity. Buckle up, because we’re about to get extremely metaphorical and philosophical. Stick with me, it’ll be worth it.
That balloon takes on the (rough) shape of a sphere, the 3D version of a circle.
You may have noticed my letter to you last week featured a GIF from season 1 of the show TRUE DETECTIVE. Matthew McConaughey’s character Rust Cohle, a hardened, nihilistic detective, is also one of TV’s most intriguing philosophers. Cohle ponders the idea (one also hypothesized about by various philosophers in history, including Nietzsche) of eternal recurrence. “Time is a flat circle.”
One of my favorite explanations of the “time is a flat circle” line is to compare this 2D circle to a DVD. All of existence is captured, like a movie, on this DVD. If one were to somehow move outside of 3D existence and view that existence in this 2D format, we would be watching the universe like a movie. While we perceive time and our lives as linear, someone watching this DVD could let it spin over and over again, watching everything play out and repeat. Yet, every time something happens, it is happening like it is the first time.
So, we have the 3D sphere (Balloon) of Art. Inside it is all of human creation.
Then, we have our 2D circle (DVD) of Time. On it is all of human existence.
Try not to take any of this too literally—the implications are matters of perspective.
In SINNERS (2025, dir. Ryan Coogler), we witness a physical manifestation of the way music transcends time with the I Lied To You scene. We see numerous genres of music made by Black artists across decades and centuries of time, all influenced by and influencing each other. All connected.
Music’s relationship to time is a topic I’ve written about before (example), and one that most of us probably understand right away. We can see how the balloon influences all of the creative drops of water being added to it. It’s almost like the balloon has 2 spouts—1 where the water comes in and 1 where it flows out—and those spouts are actually connected. The water that flows out eventually finds its way back in.
In a way, this all makes sense when we consider the cycles we see throughout nature. The water cycle, for example—liquid water falls from the sky, lands in the ground, in puddles and ponds and oceans, freezes into ice that keeps the planet at temperatures necessary for life, feeds the bodies of living things, and eventually evaporates back into water vapor… that will again fall as liquid from the sky.
Okay, let’s take a breath. What the hell do all of these metaphors really mean? And what are their implications for us, the artists stuck living in 3 dimensions, walking along the linear version of time, all of which we cannot see as 1 compressed DVD? Are we just stuck in a nihilistic cycle?!
In Rust Cohle’s world, it’s difficult to live with the idea that all of the evils in the universe will go on repeating themselves—that humanity will always struggle with deep, self-harming flaws.
In “Preacher Boy” Sammie’s world, it’s fulfilling to recognize your small part in the beautiful cycle of honest self-expression through art—humanity will always thrive on our innate ability to conceive and create.
We’ve returned to the classic optimist vs pessimist argument. But I think the optimist argument has a hidden advantage. As Rust Cohle says at the very end of TRUE DETECTIVE:
“Well, once there was only dark. You ask me, the light’s winning.”
This is the secret superpower of the optimist. If you go back to the very beginning, whether that means before the Big Bang or at the start of the Book of Genesis, there was only darkness. Now, there is light. Even the struggling pessimist must acknowledge this.
So, my friend, here is what I now suggest as our course of action: zoom back in and keep filling the Balloon. Forget about the Balloon actually and forget about the DVD. Just enjoy the light of each day—enjoy playing, enjoy making art, and enjoy exploring the waters of your soul (no matter how many other places that water was sourced from… because of how many other places that water was sourced from).
Don’t fret over the idea that, eventually, this universe may “end” in a Big Crunch where expansion reverses and everything collapses back into a singularity—that DVD that only some god or extra-universal entity can observe. Don’t fret that the collapse may actually trigger another Big Bang and restart the whole damn movie.
Let’s just stay in character and try to make our scene interesting, shall we?
The Living Music List
Hello again, friend. I hope you enjoyed today’s reflection—and I hope your head isn’t spinning too much from all the philosophizing. We have fun here.
Let’s take a swim in some of the water from that great big Balloon of ours.
Happy listening.
Fading by CIRC (EP / minimalist, melodic ambient)^ [Independent]
François Rousseau, once featured in HB&H for his work as Eir Drift, now returns to the ambient list as CIRC. On this EP, Rousseau conjures peaceful, electronic dreams with these minimal synth melodies and atmospheres. Like a colorful wallpaper slightly desaturated by age and wear, these tracks contain echoes of emotions, whether joy or melancholy. And like an abstract wallpaper, the viewer (listener) applies their current state to the feel of the room.
Symphony for the Sullen by Altus (album / neoclassical)^ [Altus Music]
Cinematic and grand, this progresses like a film score missing it’s moving images. One’s imagination (or eyes) can easily fill the void here, though—the tracks here reflect and contemplate the everyday drama, heartbreak, pain, and fear that so many have experienced and are experiencing lately. Perhaps, though, there is also some hope, however distant? I can hear it, at rare moments. I can feel it lurking beneath the darker feelings. If you’re looking for a more traditional orchestral listen with some elements of more minimalist music, Symphony for the Sullen is for you.
No Place by Detachments (album / melodic ambient, dark ambient)^ [Independent]
I must start with these words from the artist:
“Prepared on the precipice of the map, forged at the frozen start of a new year, this work breathes cold air. A collection of haunting, ambient tracks, made on the edge of a far North of England, forgotten deadbeat small-town.”
Despite this emphasis on the darker, more haunting side of this LP, it isn’t sparse or all dark—there are actually some lovely melodies to be heard here. Perhaps that is represented by the pillar of light in the middle of the album cover. I think the snowy landscape pictured there is the key image, as the album feels more cold than dark, and there is some heat and light playing amid the cold throughout the album.
Empty Hands by Poppy (album / metal, pop)
Poppy remains one of metal’s most exciting voices. On this, her seventh studio album, she once again demonstrates her range of abilities that includes going heavy and screaming as well as shimmering and sliding atop electronic-infused pop production. Her personality shines through the whole way (I laughed when she audibly cleared her throat at one point between lines on the title track). I must admit, when I realized Poppy was dropping, I was hoping for something even heavier—this record does lean a bit more into her *ahem* poppy side—but there are still plenty of bangers to be found.
It Could Be Worse by Samm Henshaw (album / soul)
Is this the second coming of Marvin Gaye? I’ll let you be the judge of that. Either way, it seems to me, so far, to be a remarkable album of soul singing by Samm Henshaw. I look forward to sitting with this one a while longer to let it fully sink in, but for now, come for Henshaw’s silky, emotive voice.
Backengrillen by Backengrillen (album / death jazz)
I’ll let these quotes from the artists and the Bandcamp description speak for this record.
"We really hope this slab of stupid, violent death rock will ruin someone’s day. Haha." — David Sandström (who plays drums and electronics on this record)
”Music and art without definite labels is a necessity for a better living - create your own individual genres and open up for more death-jazz-core-noise-metal-poetry to enter your world of destroying the local and global stupidities around us” — Mats Gustafsson (who plays saxophones, flutes and live electronics here)
"Backengrillens music is a paean to chaos and destruction. The basic idea is to take a death/doom metal, or noiserock riff and play it until it loses meaning and then break it apart like a ravenous cat would a tiny forest mouse. It's filled to the brim with the self-hatred endemic to the province of Västerbotten [a county in Northern Sweden] from whence the members hail. The record was written on a Thursday during their first ever rehearsal, performed live on a Friday and recorded on a Saturday, so what you're hearing is raw, stupid, gut instinct music played by seasoned purveyors of hardcore punk, metal, free jazz, noise, et cetera.”
Music List Reminders: Bold and ^ denote reader-submitted work. Bandcamp links provided first when available—if an album is not on Bandcamp, then YouTube or other streaming links are provided. List format: Title by Artist (release type / approximate genre or subgenres) [Label].
That’s all for this week’s issue. Thank you for reading. Until next time.
Your friend,
Melted Form
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Great piece, I love that you make conscious the unseparation of music and the movement of the universe. This is what I try to do in my music.
Once again, I find myself nodding in agreement to your words. I appreciate your philosophical view of the universe and how we play our part in it (albeit as mere particles in the grand scheme of things).
Thanks for sharing your thoughts about Symphony for the Sullen.