Borrowed Bearings is the fourth chapter in Vector Collapse’s seven-album arc — the moment where the blast crater, the rebuilt workshop, and the dead-reckoning journey all slow down long enough to listen.

These songs live in the spaces between big decisions: the hum of a room you’ve called “normal” for too long, the way you stand like your parents without meaning to, the late-shift agreement with someone just as wrecked as you not to make the night any worse. It’s metalwave wired for small, specific scenes instead of slogans — heavy guitars and neon synths wrapped around lyrics that look straight at the quiet stuff most people step over.

“Reserve,” “Signal Fire,” and “Slow is Smooth” anchor the record as the three flare points: learning to keep something in the tank, catching the almost-missed warnings, and finally choosing pace over chaos. Around them, the rest of the album maps the subtle recalibrations that change your heading without a single dramatic speech: turning down circuits in “Breaker Shrine,” reading the stress fractures in “Tension Lines,” and letting a little honest light into the room on “Light Leans In.”

Borrowed Bearings is not about being saved by some perfect guide; it’s about borrowing steadier angles from the people and moments that show up when your own compass is spinning, and then slowly, stubbornly, learning to stand on your own feet again.

Tracklist:
1. Room Tone  
2. Soft Alarms  
3. Cold Forge Hymn  
4. Reserve  
5. Breaker Shrine  
6. Signal Fire  
7. Borrowed Bearings  
8. Borrowed Light
9. Slow is Smooth  
10. Tension Lines  
11. Nightshift Pact  
12. Margin Notes  
13. Worn Emblem  
14. Light Leans In  

Tags: vector collapse, Borrowed Bearings, metalwave, synth metal, retrosynth, concept album, heavy, introspective, electronic rock


Nightshift Pact

Classically trained violist turned bass player turned tech guy and digital musician with a focus on metalwave, synthwave, and futurefunk.

Nightshift Pact

Neurostatik Records