Emergence

Album

Even In Arcadia

Label

Interscope Records

Genre

Dance-pop

Composer(s)

Vessel1;Vessel2

Entered Chart

Mar 29, 2025

Peak Date

Mar 29, 2025

"Emergence," the lead single from Sleep Token's fourth album, Even in Arcadia, finds the band doubling down on their genre-blurring tendencies. While rooted in alternative and heavy metal, the six-minute epic incorporates electronic music, hip-hop, and R&B influences. It's over two-and-a-half minutes before anything remotely metal enters the picture. Its fusion of djenty guitars, atmospheric textures, and rhythmic experimentation exemplifies Sleep Token's ever-evolving sound. Toward the end of the song, a saxophone solo by Gabi Rose cuts through the layers, adding an unexpected touch of smoothness that contrasts the dense, heavier elements. It's one of those moments that makes you stop and think, "Well, that's something I didn't see coming." "Emergence" unfolds like a journey - one of transformation, self-discovery, and the urge to break free from the past. It's a call to rise from the ashes of who you once were and step into something new. Laced with cryptic metaphors and vivid imagery, the song leaves ample space for interpretation. Sleep Token's approach to songwriting often blends personal experiences with more abstract concepts, giving us a rich narrative to unpack. Longtime Bullet For My Valentine producer Carl Bown is behind the boards. He also worked on Sleep Token's 2023 album Take Me Back To Eden.

Well, you were laid in verse
Living on a promised word
Well, I am the rose you relinquished again
You and I are down head-first
In another world, I heard
But I have a feeling we're close to the end, so

Come on, come on
Out from underneath who you were
Come on, come on now
You know that it's time to emerge

So go ahead and wrap your arms around me
Arms around me, arms around me, yeah
Go ahead and wrap your arms around me
Arms around me, arms around me, yeah
Go ahead and wrap your arms around me
Arms around me, arms around me, yeah
Go ahead and wrap your arms around me
Arms around me, arms around me, yeah

Are you carbide on my nano?
Red glass on my lightbulb
Dark light on my culture
Sapphire in my white gold
Burst out of my chest and
Hide out in the vents, my
Blood beats, so alive might
Bite right through your lens, it's
Midnight in my mind's eye
Drowning out the daylight
Godspeed to my enemies that be
Asking for that call sign
You know the behaviour
Canines of the saviour
Glory to the legion
Trauma for the neighbours

So go ahead and wrap your arms around me
Arms around me, arms around me, yeah
Go ahead and wrap your arms around me
Arms around me, arms around me, yeah
Go ahead and wrap your arms around me
Arms around me, arms around me, yeah
Go ahead and wrap your arms around me
Arms around me, arms around me, yeah

I've got solar flares for your dead gods
Space dust for your fuel rods
Dark days for your solstice
Dancing through the depths of
Hellfire on the winds that
Started from within, my
Blood beats so alive, might
Tear right through my skin, so
Tell me what you meant by
Living past your half-life
In lockstep with the universe
And you're well-versed in the afterlife
You know that I'm sanctified
By what's below
No matter what you do
No matter where you go

And you might be the one to take away the pain and let my mind go quiet
And nothing else is quite the same as how I feel when I'm at your side

Come on, come on
Out from underneath who you were
Come on, come on now
You know that it's time to emerge

Go ahead and wrap your arms around me
Arms around me, arms around me

You might be the one to take away the pain and let my mind go quiet
And nothing else is quite the same as how I feel when I'm at your side