Vancouver-based pop artist des hume has released the appropriately titled "October Song" to usher in the new month. The track marks the beginning of what will be a continuous rollout of new music, with a new song dropping each month for the foreseeable future.
While we were all acquiring new talents amidst the pandemic, des hume picked up drumming — making it possible for him to play everything on "October Song." The track comes alongside an accompanying video, featuring the artist delivered — quite literally — in a box amidst packing peanuts.
The song builds from a gentle, echoing opening to an evocative peak, leaving surprise at the sudden and surging emotion experienced in its wake. A departure from the artist's typical electronic pop sound, the release is loosely inspired by Alex G, the Antlers, and Saddle Creek Records.
"October is a weird month for me. I love everything about the season, but for whatever reason every significant loss that I've experienced over my adult life has occurred in the fall, and usually within the same calendar month," the pop songwriter wrote in an email to Exclaim! "There wasn't a digestible explanation for it. There's just vacancies in me now."
The artist elaborated in a statement that the song's meaning evolved in the face of the rampant pandemic-related suffering. He said:
I think a lot of people are feeling the same way now with COVID, watching unvaccinated relatives pass away alone in ICU's as a result of misinformation and blind stubbornness. It's hard enough to lose someone you love, but it's especially crushing when you can see how preventable the outcome was. I didn't write the song with that in mind, but as I've been listening to the song lately it feels prescient. Grief is concentrated in the air right now, and we haven't had the breathing room to sit with it.
Listen to "October Song" in the video below, and stay tuned for more des humes releases over the coming weeks. He has already confirmed that he's going to be mixing up the song titles from here on out, so next month's track won't be "November Song."
des hume released the long-delayed album Bub earlier this year.
While we were all acquiring new talents amidst the pandemic, des hume picked up drumming — making it possible for him to play everything on "October Song." The track comes alongside an accompanying video, featuring the artist delivered — quite literally — in a box amidst packing peanuts.
The song builds from a gentle, echoing opening to an evocative peak, leaving surprise at the sudden and surging emotion experienced in its wake. A departure from the artist's typical electronic pop sound, the release is loosely inspired by Alex G, the Antlers, and Saddle Creek Records.
"October is a weird month for me. I love everything about the season, but for whatever reason every significant loss that I've experienced over my adult life has occurred in the fall, and usually within the same calendar month," the pop songwriter wrote in an email to Exclaim! "There wasn't a digestible explanation for it. There's just vacancies in me now."
The artist elaborated in a statement that the song's meaning evolved in the face of the rampant pandemic-related suffering. He said:
I think a lot of people are feeling the same way now with COVID, watching unvaccinated relatives pass away alone in ICU's as a result of misinformation and blind stubbornness. It's hard enough to lose someone you love, but it's especially crushing when you can see how preventable the outcome was. I didn't write the song with that in mind, but as I've been listening to the song lately it feels prescient. Grief is concentrated in the air right now, and we haven't had the breathing room to sit with it.
Listen to "October Song" in the video below, and stay tuned for more des humes releases over the coming weeks. He has already confirmed that he's going to be mixing up the song titles from here on out, so next month's track won't be "November Song."
des hume released the long-delayed album Bub earlier this year.
