I’ll See You Soon
2022
album by alex vallejo (@alexvallejomusic)
photography by hayden wilde
the story of this album focuses on is something most of us can relate to: leaving your home country in search for new experiences, new friends, a new life.
there are three stages;
excitement - the first time we say “i’ll see you soon” to friends and family is filled with excitement. we are desperate to leave and ‘thrive’ in a new land. everything new is exciting. a sausage roll from greggs is exciting the first time you ever step into one. new acquaintances encountered, new friends made. we want more of this sense of a new freedom we didn’t think we had. it is all so intoxicating that we want to tell everyone back home, but the phone call is always a bit too short, a night out is never long enough, and conversations with new friends finish prematurely. all followed by a flight back home.
monotony - what was once exciting becomes the new norm. we find ourselves being accustomed to a new culture and a new way of life. while all this is happening we start realising that we may have under-appreciated what we once had. we start missing home, start missing family and friends; in my case i started missing the food. we dive deeper into nostalgia and some new experiences made may trigger or be compared to past memories. homesickness starts hitting a little and questions start arising.
desperation - when homesickness and nostalgia becomes too much to bear, we find ourselves in a dilemma. do you stay or do you go back? it’s no longer thinking about past times but rather being consumed by them. living two lives half lived is hard on many, myself being one. i found myself missing my home, my friends and family. i know that after a while being away, thing are not going to be exactly the same, which was a good thing in a sense. a new life in a familiar setting with the same support was the way to go for me.
overall, this project is about the downward spiral of leaving and going back we partake in that drives us deeper into nostalgia.
image one: the drop (freedom)
image two: the fall (monotony)
image three: decay (desperation)
image four: the pickup (repeat)
