“On the off chance you remember me, will you smile and say…” tenmonthsummer asks on their new single “For You, When I’m Long Gone.” The lakeshore emo band just released this track on April 10th. Comprised of Nish Ahmed, Luke Smith, Charlie Edwards, Sam Koone and Dawson Schmidt, they’re a band that’s less concerned about their genre and more concerned with feelings and staying true to their humanity.
This song is so tender and makes me feel so warm and only gets better with each listen. “North star I’m going home” captures that warmth and everlasting love, just like the cover image photographed by Ethie. I only found more reasons to love this song as I listened more. The main theme Nish described as “choosing to love someone when this life we have is so fleeting” is immediately felt and only becomes more prominent throughout. The deep want and slight desperation to be remembered as you are is something we can all relate to. I feel like that’s what’s so beautiful about emo music, the honest, vulnerable emotional expression that’s fossilized in a way that can be felt for generations to come.
The steady drums throughout the song ground the floaty and esoteric narrative style song lyrics. The question posed in the song “on the off chance you remember me will you smile and say… “ is one that helps the listener become curious about their own experience with these themes.
“For You, When I’m Long Gone” puts tangibility into intangible feelings which makes it so special. The themes are akin to Mitski’s “My Love Mine All Mine” where she touches on death and love and life and eternity. In a Genius interview she says “I wish this love in me, that is temporary, could go up to the eternal moon and keep shining down with it”. Some of the most special songs are the ones that give meaning to themes that can be discussed in words, but become more beautiful when they allow the energy of the writer’s heart to shine boldly through. When it clicked for me that “For You, When I’m Long Gone” was the emo cousin to Mitski’s indie “My Love Mine All Mine”, it was no wonder why I became obsessed with it.
Nish explains that the lyrics “…orbit the idea that even after I am dead, buried, and rotting, if I am lucky, my words and actions live on in some kind of memory. And if I’m luckier, the memories of me might be something of warmth, of care, of love.”
I think the best way to honor this song is to go out and love- remind someone you love them, make someone a cup of tea, wrap a blanket around them; its the little acts that make up the solar system that is love. We all come with our own emotional baggage and trauma entering and being in relationships, whether that be romantic partnerships, friendships and anything in between, and it’s such a beautiful song to remember to commit to loving as much as we can in this lifetime.
While tenmonthsummer leaves the question posed at the beginning unfinished, as the song concludes it seems like they’ve found more security in the absence of knowing the answer. I hope this song touches whoever needs it and I hope it serves as a reminder to commit to loving truly and authentically, so that it may be felt when we are long gone.
If you haven’t hoped on the tenmonthsummer train yet, now’s a better time than ever! I promise they’ll keep you warm.
Catch them opening for Trophy Eyes on May 4th, at Bummer Summer fest on June 29th, and stay tuned for their first ever tour announcement!
FFO: Carly Cosgrove, s@yp, summerbruise
https://linktr.ee/tenmonthsummer
The Diygest 
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