7/10

Antoin Gibson's 'The Rise and Fall of Eternity' is a raw and passionate EP that poses the possibility that there may be no answer to what happens when we pass away. Across its five-track digital edition, the London artist approaches mortality, consciousness and humanity's capacity for self-destruction as parts of the same unresolved puzzle. Alt-pop, dark electronics, industrial textures, hip-hop and theatrical songwriting become different languages through which she tests those ideas, giving the EP the character of a narrative in which to explore the questions at its core.

'Introduction to the Unexplained' establishes that shift immediately. Moving away from some of her more confrontational instincts, it places introspection at the front of the project before 'Pandora’s Paradox' begins widening the questions towards consequence and uncertainty.

From there, 'Dystopian Empress’ turns towards humanity's destructive tendencies, while 'Mirrors Behind the Smoke' explores the realities that remain obscured beneath appearances. Together, they move the EP from individual uncertainty towards the uncomfortable possibility that humanity understands its own fragility while repeatedly behaving as though it doesn't.

But the most intriguing structural choice arrives with 'Fortune Favours the Timeless'. Its more intimate direction provides a deliberate contrast to the darker electronic landscape around it, allowing the EP to approach death and eternity without forcing those subjects towards a dramatic conclusion.

By the end, Anotoin Gibson leaves mortality in its unresolved state. But by allowing 'The Rise and Fall of Eternity' to possess more nuance within both the writing and production styles, she finds an effective way of making uncertainty part of the EP's entire architecture.

There's no definitive answer here, but perhaps that's precisely the point.