Rebecca Jozwiak | staff writer |

Spearheaded by musician Ryan O’Neal, Sleeping At Last’s newest album, “Atlas: Connect,” includes seven songs — the three original songs, supplemented with one acoustic rendition and three instrumental soundbites.

Prior to this project’s release on Oct. 18, O’Neal’s project released a nine-song album entitled “Atlas: Survive” on July 26, featuring three original songs alongside acoustic and instrumental covers.

The two albums were undoubtedly connected: on the landing page of Sleeping At Last’s website, viewers arrive at a landing page that says: “Atlas: III… begins now,” alluding to a third sister album to “Connect” and “Survive.”

According to the Sleeping At Last website, the Atlas project consists of personal narratives of humanistic thought and development.

In the first installment of the Atlas project, “Survive,” songs center around the origins of the universe, while the second installment, “Connect,” focuses on themes of life. O’Neal released the projects as singles and extended plays before ultimately releasing the anthologies as a whole.

The first track, “Hurt,” begins with soft piano accompanied by an orchestra. O’Neal makes his vocal entrance, singing “I already miss what I have / I think about that a lot / Two funerals in my head.”

The artist reminisces on past events and people that were once in his life, thinking about the memories that these aspects of his life provided him. He mentions two funerals, representing each of the two song lyrics: One for what he has lost, and another for the constant overthinking he does, both paining him.

As the song moves from the first verse to the chorus, O’Neal acknowledges these feelings: “I wanna feel / I wanna feel / Oblivious to pain,” he sings.

Addressing his feelings head on, O’Neal hopelessly yearns for the ability to not ignore the emotional anguish that he is in, and follows these lines with the hope of wanting to embrace change.

O’Neal shows off his vocal range toward the end of the song, holding the last lyric of his bridge: “After rain / I want to swim,” alluding again to his craving for resilience.

Listeners immediately experience a tone shift when the second song of the album, “Heal” begins to play. Within this song, O’Neal opts for a strong acoustic guitar presence, creating a reflective and bittersweet sound.

Toward the end of the first verse, O’Neal lets listeners in on the change that he has suffered from: “You remind me / That my heart was born to beat / Before you died.” Listeners are now given an extra dimension to the story-telling within the album – O’Neal is taking listeners on a journey of navigating grief.

The artist does a fantastic job of creating sentiment within this song. Through these jaw dropping lyrics, I found myself in awe over O’Neal’s ability to process the emotional developments he has encountered.

Now that he has begun to work through this emotional weight, O’Neal finally comes to terms that the person who died serves as a reminder that he will, in fact, heal and move on from the myriad of emotions he’s experiencing. He accepts that one day, he will eventually die also, but before that can happen, he must understand how to heal himself.

The third and final original song off of the album is “Quiet Magic (Storge).” The song begins in an almost-upbeat fashion, with a piano riff that leads into a trio including acoustic guitar and other string instruments. The long instrumental is accompanied with backing humming vocals, giving the song an ethereal feel.

After nearly a minute, O’Neal finally begins to sing lyrics, now with an optimistic outlook on his emotions — and how to begin living life again.

“Our faces nearly rhyme / Heartbeats synchronize / Three generations of gentle love echo / In your eyes,” O’Neal sings as the orchestral instruments begin to pick up.

After singing through the pain and acceptance of what he has lost, O’Neal now sings a final, triumphant tune of how he has begun to pick his life back up.

As the song concludes, the album proceeds to go into an acoustic version of “Quiet Magic (Storge),” followed by the instrumental versions of each song as well.

Overall, Sleeping at Last’s album consists of three pivotal songs that beautifully weave together a healing process important to O’Neal, emphasizing to listeners how they can – and will – adapt to devastating change and uncertainty.