Leo Tolstoy once said, “music is the shorthand of emotion.” If you are as firm a believer in that as I am, then the album “Atlas: Enneagram” is definitely for you. Sleeping at Last has managed to make an album that has the ability to connect with any person who stumbles upon it.

The name is already a clue into how the three-piece band managed to tug on our hearts. The Enneagram test is used to find your basic personality, with the test giving you a deeper description afterwards, all the way down to your darkest fears.

According to the Enneagram Institute, it is pretty common to find a little bit of yourself in more than one of the nine types, but there should be only one type that sticks out to you. The album takes all nine personalities and makes one song for each, which is why when you search for the album there are no song titles, only numbers.

I personally am a type two, but I have listened to the whole album just to see how each song compares to my own. Musically, all the songs are emotionally charged as they are all softer, alternative sounding ballads.

Emotionally, there is something raw about all the songs that you can recognize even if you aren’t the personality type for that song. With many artists, albums or songs are written from their point of view or from their own hardship, but with “Atlas: Enneagram,” feels geared towards the listener and their own troubles, even if it is at a base level.

I personally cried listening to my own song, but even if it doesn’t make you cry, it’ll make you feel something. It isn’t sadness or anything negative, but it isn’t exactly positive either. It just makes you feel. This is a true testament of how good the album really is.

The songs aren’t really upbeat or something that will make you feel hyped up. If softer, folk songs are not your jam then maybe this won’t be your favorite album, but it is still an album worth checking out.

The concept of the album is something that I have never seen before, so it’s interesting to see how the band showcased these personalities while keeping their own sound. The beautiful vocals and melancholy undertone make your own song feel personal and you can find a piece of yourself in each word sung. If music really is “the shorthand of emotion,” then this song came straight from the heart, for the heart.

Check out this video to see what other people had to say about their own songs!