Darkroom/Pose
Lyrics and music by Alex Waters
"Last night, I learned something about myself. I've always been here. I'm made of those who lived, loved, and died before me.
The stories that call to me - they live in my heart because they live in my blood.
This body cannot last, but something more important will.
How do I capture it, keep it, leave it as a message for me in the next life?
I wanna go home.
I wanna go home.
I wanna go home."
Case File: AW04
Despite its short timestamp of only 1 minute, 2 seconds, no critical analysis of The Signal Cycle is complete without this monologue.
The central themes of the record are all present, including reincarnation, communication, and revelation. But for months, the exact text of the script was not publicly available. It was found on a discarded USB drive at Castle Waters Recordings, where the band mixes and masters each release, and subsequently released online.
As the thematic focal point of this album, a subtle allusion is made to the Jungian "collective unconscious" in the sense that this song's speaker is literally and genetically comprised of people and stories of past generations. Intergenerational communication, another key theme on The Signal Cycle, is suggested as well.
Here, Waters makes a classic cinema reference, which will eventually become another trademark of Circa 1996's style, via the three "I wanna go home" incantations.
The musical accompaniment to this speech is a slowed-down and reversed version of the chords in the following song, "Snapshot," and often, the two are considered essentially the same song, split into two.
Status: Fragmented
Origin: February 2026
See also: "Snapshot"