× Thanks for reading! Log in to continue. Enjoy more articles by logging in or creating a free account. No credit card required. Log in Sign up {{featured_button_text}}

Story has its own flow, its own method by which it lulls us. Up and down and back and forth. Exposition, climax, resolution. The structure of the story is so ingrained in us it seems second nature. Without resolution, we’re left jarred, spinning from too much booze, our ears ringing from too-loud tunes.

The narrative in Last Night, and All of Our Glorious Mishaps, the new album from Flagstaff hip-hop duo An Illustrated Mess, simply ends, closing with: “I never wanted to be alone/ If I could I’d change the past/ And find a way I could make it last.” And then it’s over. Acoustic guitar fades. Harmonica, distorted guitars and ambience swirl and dissipate. And we are alone.

“There’s not a moral to the story or any kind of real resolution. It’s just real life. It’s just an everyday story,” Cecil Tso says, half of An Illustrated Mess alongside Clint “Prosodic” Slim. “For me, there is no resolution, just like in life. The next day you just move forward. So it’s kind of up to the listener. They get to decide what happens next, and that probably says more about them than they would think. Through their own experience they can determine the ending.”