October Drift, an eclectic group of childhood friends, live as true rockstars in a time where that is becoming more and more difficult to do. In 2022 they came out with a powerful rock album, I Don’t Belong Anywhere, and now they’re back with a new single, ‘Blame the Young’.
Previous to this single, their sound had been reminiscent of Arcade Fire, with low, lilting vocals, not unlike The Cure. ‘Blame the Young’ is markedly high-energy in comparison, with a quick rhythm guitar to start the song off, almost urging the vocals faster with its insistence. The song opens immediately into short, staccato but undoubtedly attention-grabbing lyrics, “It’s how you carry yourself // And everyone else // It’s what you do when you’re young // And nobody’s son”.
At the end of each verse some version of “blame” is expressed, weaving an unmistakable story of the unwillingness of older generations to see the true causes of injustices in the world between the lyrics. In order, we are told, “Blame the road” then, “Blame your tools” then, “Blame the cards” then, “Blame your age” then, “Blame divide” until right before the climax of the song, we get “Blame the Young”, after which, a final, punchy, “Blame the times”. In essence, blame the circumstances of your birth, or the dice rolls of fate for your misfortunes, not anything systemic or even vaguely mutable. This theme is driven home with the recurring lyrics, “The best friend you have // Oh denial, denial”. It’s unclear if these sentiments are directed externally, or if these are internal thoughts of the—for lack of a better term—narrator, and this ambiguity adds to the complexity of the song.
Throughout the verses and these punctuating blame statements we get a complex look at snippets of a person’s life within this worldview, and the resounding sadness borne of it. Some of the lines I found most powerful were, “It’s how you live in the stops // Between the hands of the clocks”, and “It’s just the life that you gave // It’s just minimum wage”, and the song is chock full of sentiments like these that may change with the listener’s interpretations.
In terms of sound, there is a lot of repetition in the melody, which builds to bursts of overlapping sound at two separate points in the song. While I was unsure of this choice at first, I’ve found that the simple melody helps to bring attention to the lyrics, which I believe are the main draw of this song.
With only around 17,000 monthly listeners, October Drift is a truly underground rock group that is putting out good, thoughtful music within the genre. ‘Blame the Young’, I hope, indicates an intention to continue putting this kind of music out, and I can’t wait to see where they grow from here.
Words by Marlee Gaitanis
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