Music Review // Opeongo "Ceiling Rats"

 

As we get into Autumn it feels like not only are the leaves on the trees changing color and slowly dying as we head into Winter, but the songs coming out now seem to reflect death more as well.   This is clear with the Opeongo song "Ceiling Rats", in which at first it is wondered if he hears someone he lost or if it's just the rats in the ceiling.

This song serves as a beautiful tribute to someone who has died and it is strictly pianos and a voice, which can make me think a little about someone like Randy Newman.  The chorus has the line: "Cannot stand to be without you dear friend / never known a better man" and there are very specific details within the lyrics as well.  This song is, perhaps more than anything else, about grieving and you just don't get enough of this type of funeral music any more.

Keeping with the spirit of rats there is a line in here that says "Your death gnaws at me ad nauseam" and I think that this song also captures how death can affect you.   When someone dies, at first you can be overcome by emotion.  As time goes on, it begins to hurt a little bit less, but then there are just these times where you're reminded of them and it all hits you again.  Death is a clever thing in that way because I don't feel like we ever truly get over such a loss.

Though "Ceiling Rats" may have some specific details which don't apply to someone you know or had known, the fact that this just serves as a moving tribute to someone loved and lost can show how it can easily translate with someone else.  Whether you have recently lost someone or not, hopefully you can appreciate this song as I would be honored if such a memory was made at my funeral one day.