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The other morning when I was lying awake in bed, with one of the new Sleep Token songs running on repeat in my head, I thought I’d join in the discussion on Threads about their album Even In Arcadia. I then thought, hey, why not post something kinda impulsive? I genuinely thought maybe 10 people would see it?
Turns out:
Of course, I was traveling the next day, so I couldn’t dive in right away and deliver on my promise. But here it is now! And I’ll share the same caveats I shared on Threads:
I am a brand new Sleep Token fan. I’ve listened to a few of their songs before now, but when Caramel first came out, it really grabbed me, and now I’m hooked on all their stuff.
I have a PhD in art history, specifically 16th/17th century Italian art and architecture, so I am not a classicist, but I took Latin and am very into the Greco-Roman world as well. You could say it’s my Roman Empire. (Although I think Sleep Token is my new one…)
These are just my own interpretations as a fan, but I welcome any other insights or ideas! Especially into the deep lore of the band, for I was, sadly, not there when it was written.
Without further ado, let’s dive in to the art historical/classical references of the new album by Sleep Token 👀
Starting with the album title itself, Even In Arcadia, as soon as I heard the name I sat up straight and thought of the painting by Nicolas Poussin, with the title “Et in Arcadia ego”, or “Even in Arcadia, I Am” (or “There I Am”).
Here’s the painting by Poussin, who was one of the masters of the French Baroque style of painting, which typically had classical references up the wazoo, with gods and goddesses and togas and ruined temples and columns and nymphs and shepherds.
The painting, now in the Louvre, shows three shepherds with artfully tousled hair, laurel crowns, and nonchalantly draped approximations of togas. The woman on the right is thought to be a nymph or sybil, or a shepherdess, we’re not really sure.
The elegant trees and distant mountains give the scene a dreamy quality, while Poussin’s statuesque figures and primary colors—which he was known for—really stand out here. He’s evoking an ancient classical past, which makes sense considering he spent most of his life and career in Rome.
Back to the painting—the guy wearing blue is pointing to a tomb, on which is an inscription reading “Et in Arcadia ego”.
But Poussin didn’t create the saying himself.
Arcadia is an actual place in Greece, but in ancient Greek religion it was basically a paradise, a lush and idyllic landscape that also had some melancholy associated with it.
(The cult of Despoina was also centered there, but that wasn’t her real name—her true name was only revealed to those who were initiated into her cult 👀 Kinda feels significant, or maybe I’m going too deep?)
The Roman writer Virgil, who also wrote the Aeneid, an epic poem about the aftermath of the Trojan War, was inspired by earlier Greek stories about Arcadia and set his Eclogues or “extracts” there, which were basically tales of shepherds frolicking among the splendor, singing emo songs about their long lost loves.
During the Renaissance in Europe, the concept of Arcadia saw a HUGE resurgence in art and literature, since that whole movement was trying to revitalize or give a rebirth (aka renaissance) to classical works of art, like Virgil’s writings.
Side note: can we bring back Medici-style artistic patronage please?
Jacopo Sannazaro’s 1489 work Arcadia followed Virgil’s example, with the protagonist wandering through the idyllic pastoral scenery of Arcadia, but it became even more popular than Virgil’s version, and would go on to influence Shakespeare and Milton and later writers.
It seemed like everyone wanted to be in Arcadia—including Poussin, whose painting is a direct reference to the more recent Renaissance, and in turn the classical world.
And now, Sleep Token is referencing them all? It’s like a series of nesting Russian dolls full of references and I’m obsessed 🥹
But what does the saying mean exactly? And in Poussin’s painting, who is saying “even in Arcadia, there I am?” The person buried in the tomb? Possibly.
There’s still some debate, but I think it’s referring to death itself.
Here in this lush, green paradise bursting with life, the shepherds have come upon a tomb. Even in this resplendent place, there is sorrow and loss as well.
It ties into the concept of a “memento mori”, which roughly translates to “remember you must die”, and was often depicted by artists throughout the millennia as a reminder to the living to live well (or in the case of religious art, to repent), because death comes for us all. See also all the various versions of the “Danse Macabre”:
You’ll often see skulls and skeletons in memento mori art as well, along with symbols like hourglasses or scythes (hence our figure of the grim reaper), extinguished candles, or ephemeral objects like fruit or flowers.
There are lots of other paintings that show a similar Arcadian themes, and have the same title, and technically, the Italian painter Guercino did one earlier than Poussin, back around 1620, but Poussin’s is more famous now. (And Poussin even did multiple versions of his.)
So for Sleep Token to choose this as their album name, to me it’s a direct reference back to all of these earlier traditions in art and literature, and it invites us to hold those two opposing ideas at once—that even in paradise, death walks beside us.
The other theory of what the phrase “Et in Arcadia ego” means is that those who have passed on are also with us still, either lingering as phantoms, or in our grief and memories as we walk through life without them—not to get too deep on main.
But I guess that’s what I’m doing here, right?
That’s all for Part 1, since this is already reaching an epically long length.
Part 2 will feature more analysis of the actual lyrics of the songs on the album, specifically “Even in Arcadia”, “Damocles”, and “Infinite Baths,” but I’ll refer to the others as well.