Ceaseless; At my Expanse (2023)

Ceaseless; At my Expanse
  1. Intro 
  2. Seed 
  3. In the Eye 
  4. Immutable Scale 
  5. Belly 
  6. I Spring Too 
  7. Between My Temples 
  8. Hovering Above Infertile Grounds 
  9. Motorway Eternity 
  10. Love In Radicalism  
  11. Ceaseless
  12. Echo Triangular 
  13. Clear in Noise 
  14. Seeking for Transport 

about

In being queer, you inevitably will find yourself feeling insular, as you gradually have to create new nets of relations, create bridges to exist, to decipher your self states, those which won’t quite fit social norms and societal restrictions. You have to find potentials to eschew reification, to write your story. It’s a gift, as a burden to thrive in immensity, to make it visible, to long for alternatives, building them with the help of fellow ones. Charles Wesley’s Ceaseless; At My Expanse is one take on this experience, treated within his personal embodiment of queerness. In an ecological way of composing, in recycling sounds, with not much else but a computer, samples and a mic, Charles builds a dialogue between himself and the world he has to love in, breathe in, work in.  

Composed in the wake of C (LINE, 2023), an audio self portrait that laid the groundwork of an experimental music with pop inclinations, Ceaseless; At my Expanse thrives more outward and euphoric, whilst the first days of spring flow by. There’s a sense of urgency in the writing, paced by birds chirping towards June’s solstice. Vocal tapestries and spoken word combined with percussions result in a tryptic: In the Eye, Belly and the title track set a spine blending humor with emotional insistence. More expansive vocal and time incursions, Seed, Immutable Scale and Clear in Noise see Charles pouring his voice generously, while Motorway Eternity and Echo Triangular soar the ears with droning, psych hard rock ambiance. All of these songs find him in a garden he doesn’t want to leave, where he can intertwine vulnerability and empowerment with infinite joy. They’re oblique in their foundations, affective streams that fluctuate, that thrive to ascend in the static. I Spring Too, Between My Temples, Hovering Above Infertile Grounds and Love In Radicalism finally, are chambers in which the attention is both floating and appealed, to incline to musicality’s fragility and theme of utopia, whether it’s sweet, sour or both.  

The title’s « At my Expanse » is about instinctive and desired sensory and emotional expansion, that’s simultaneously a play on words. It’s at Charles’ expense, an unpredictable trajectory but necessary and beautiful. He takes things as they unfold, to express what is there, and play with it to anticipate change. In a time where it’s still a fight to self-determined, in a place where some think one isn’t free, « Ceaseless; At my Expanse » celebrates love in growing beyond the status quo, embracing the inner and outer movements of emancipation where perceptions are remolded to simply; just, breathe; catch air. No matter how chaotic, polluted it might be. 

credits

releases September 8, 2023 

written, composed, mixed by Charles Wesley 
photo by Charles Wesley 
Corset by Sarah Belfer

license

all rights reserved

https://charleswesley.bandcamp.com/album/ceaseless-at-my-expanse