Worlds

Background:
This is an album that I have already heard many times, as well as one that I am quite fond of, being at the top layer of my topster, as well as at one point being my most listened to album two years in a row. This album has always stood out to me, not just because it's one of my favorites, but also because it is an EDM album. I enjoy a lot of electronic genres, but EDM in particular is one that I have never cared for, and still don't care for, with this album being the one exception. I also love the unconventional storytelling of the album. While I don't believe that there is one continuous story, I believe that each track tells a story if its own unique fantastical world, and I do believe that some tracks are directly related, specifically Sad Machine and Goodbye To A World. What I'm trying to say with all of this is that this is an album I am very experienced with, although I have not done a full listen in a good while, so I will be revisiting it and doing a track by track review.

Divinity
Divinity is a perfect opening track for this album, and I think that it does everything that an opening track should do. This track introduces us to the relatively calm sound of the album, the recurring synthesized vocals, and the somewhat less prominent soft human vocals that we will see throughout the album. This track also introduces us to the abstract storytelling of the album, as well as the recurring theme of waiting for someone or something with lines like "We will wait for this". This comes together to create a song that is not only great on its own, but also a perfect introduction to the rest of the album

Sad Machine
Sad Machine tells the story of a girl waking up after a hundred years and being the only survivor or one of the only survivors after some sort of event that wiped out everyone else. It is left intentionally vague as to what this event is to allow for people to have their own interpretations. This song focuses primarily on themes of loneliness, human connection, and codependence, and is one of the most emotional tracks on the album. In terms of composition, I think that this song perfectly takes the loud, complex, and bass heavy sounds of EDM at the time and somehow transforms it into something calming and poignant, that feels more like something to listen to while laying in bed on a rainy day than something to dance to at a rave, as well as being the first time we hear Porter's soothing vocals.

Years Of War
Years Of War is one of the heavier tracks on the album and possibly the closest the album gets to traditional EDM. Featuring vocals from Breanne Düren and Sean Caskey, this track tells a typical fantasy story about a war that has gone on for generations and the fight to end the war. This track has some of the least intruguing storytelling in the album, but it makes up for it by having a good instrumental.

Flicker
Flicker is a unique song on this album, having relatively minimal production at certain points and focusing mainly on the Japanese vocals. This song has some fairly unique instrumentation, featuring what sounds like a guitar, as well as some more traditional sounding programmed drums. The vocals on this track don't mean much of anything, as they're made up of unused song titles that Porter just ran through a translator, making it one of the few tracks with no story whatsoever.

Fresh Static Snow
Fresh Static Snow is one of the standout tracks in my opnion. As stated by Porter, this song was inspired by his loneliness and is about the idea that the perfect person for you is out there somewhere, but because there are billions of people in the world, the chances of you actually meeting that person are very low. This is an idea that I personally like, and one that I felt that I related to when I first heard the album. This isn't important, but this topic also reminds me of the movie Your Name., although this was unintentional as this album came out three years before the movie. I love the production on this song. The chopped up vocals of the Vocaloid Avanna gives this song a unique sound that I really enjoy. Although it didn't click until my third listen, it eventually became my favorite track on the album, and was even my most listened to song of the year in 2022.

Polygon Dust
Polygon Dust has a story that I can't quite figure out, but I feel that it's left intentionally vague for the listener to visualize their own story. The beat in this song is fairly agressive before and between choruses, but it is mostly calm during the vocal segments, which were provided by the electronic duo Lemaitre. It is a fairly by the numbers song by this album's standards, but a very solid one nonetheless.

Hear The Bells
Hear The Bells is a remix of the song Bells Of Cologne by Imaginary Cities. This song starts off with some guitars and ambient synths, before erupting into this huge wave of sound once the chorus starts, and it stays at that level for almost the entire song until the end. There isn't too much to say about this track other than it is a remix of Bells Of Cologne in the style of Worlds-era Porter Robinson, and a good one at that.

Natural Light
Natural light is an instrumental track with a fairly laid back feel to it, and is mostly defined by the soul-adjacent vocal samples used throughout the track. At 2 minutes and 19 seconds, it is the shortest track on the album, and, in my opinion, acts as an interlude before picking the pace back up with Lionhearted.

Lionhearted
Lionhearted is a dance track with a more "pop" feel (at least by this album's standards). Featuring vocals by Urban Cone, this track tells a story of fighting in an endless war. The context of this war is very vague, and I personally always imagined it taking place in medieval times, but Porter himself has confirmed that the lyrics of the song were inspired by Space Invaders.

Sea Of Voices
Sea Of Voices is a very atmospheric track with lyrics describing a "perfect world", emphasizing the album's primary theme of escapism. This track is a very solid ambient track and an all around welcome addition to the album.

Fellow Feeling
Fellow Feeling is the most abrasive track on the entire album, having moments of fairly harsh noise. Before the noise segment, there is the line "Now please, hear what I hear", which Porter has stated was meant to show how he felt about the huge wave of generic EDM at the time, which this entire album acts as a response to. This track is very solid and a great way of wrapping up the album before the final track.

Goodbye To A World
Goodbye To A World is the final track on the album, and is, in my opinion, the perfect way to end the album. This is a beautiful song that encompasses all of the best aspects of the album, and manages to be a genuinely emotional moment at the end of this album. This track features synthesized vocals that talk about the "end of the world", and giving life to an entirely new world. Porter has stated that one inspiration for the lyrics of this song was his experience playing MMOs that have since been shut down, and saying goodbye to a game that he had enjoyed so much but will now never play again. Another interpretation that I have seen (although it has not been confirmed or denied by Porter) is that this song is about Porter's move away from EDM and his focus on new genres in subsequent albums. This track is an amazing sendoff, not only to this album, but also to this period in Porter's career, and is easily one of the best songs he has ever made.