Music Review // Octoberman "We Used to Talk of Death"

 

I'm never sure when is a good time to talk about death, as there doesn't seem to be one. I definitely find myself thinking about it in ways which people don't want to talk about, but this song by Octoberman sheds a light on the idea that we can talk more freely about death with questions like where we go / what happens when we die, versus once we get older or someone close to us dies and then it becomes a bit more taboo.

This comes out in the lyrics as the first line after the title says: "When we were least afraid".   There's something about feeling young and invincible that gets taken out of you as soon as someone close to your age dies, but it feels like in terms of being a kid (high school age and under) we all knew at least one person who died unexpectedly.  I feel like everyone shares that same story, but it makes you think if this kid is 17 and can die then maybe so can I.  

Another aspect to this song is how death brings out the true feelings we might have for others.   There is a line near the end that says: "I used to love you less / When you were still around".   You can think of a friend or even a relative that you might not visit as much as you should, but you know they're there and it's an option.  When that no longer becomes an option, you start to truly miss them and begin to love them even more.

Whether you gain a new amount of respect for someone after they're gone (I've heard countless stories about my grandmother that I just didn't realize, being a kid, that mean the world to me now as an adult) or you just feel like you want to have a conversation, Octoberman brings out this sort of Tom Petty rock n roll drive mixed with a bit of Matthew Sweet to make a song which will perhaps leave you with more questions than answers.  But that's okay.  Ask those tough questions now before it's too late.