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The new video for Octoberman‘s “Thirty Reasons”, from Fortresses begins naturally enough: a man with a guitar sits outside and sings a plea for somebody to come back home and settle down. His reasons are numerous—though we never hear the specifics—but ineffective, and the singer knows it: “But I know / the thirty reasons you / have to break away / and set out on your own”. Are pleading lover songs ever really about winning somebody back? Isn’t that sort of an outlandish expectation?
The natural vibe breaks when a woman comes on-screen with a bounce and a stolid two-step and a backing band appears with snaps and harmonies. The cracks and strains of frontman Marc Morrissette’s voice evoke an acute longing-for-longing’s-sake and it becomes clear: the song is an end in itself, a small bit of “peace of mind”.
