Tag Archives: Benedict October

Together we grieve, on Benedict October’s heart-wrenching alternative pop ballad ‘Beautiful Way To Die’.

‘Beautiful Way To Die’ is best described as the turning point on Benedict October’s new album ‘And then the ocean’. “It was written in the week my father died. The song describes the scene and mood in that week. Autumn 2020, COVID-19, a newly built house, a family and a man who wasn’t ready to die yet.”

“My father always had this dream to build his own house. When he was 68 he was finally given the opportunity to do so. He was already a little sick at that time. After undergoing heart surgery in January he was slowly recovering from it that spring. Or at least that was the plan. At the same time he was working on his dream of a new house. One where he and his loving wife could live for at least another 10 years with a garden with flowers and a big table for family dinners with grandchildren running through the garden.”

“In the year the house was built he got more and more sick. One day I was working in the studio on new music when my mom called me to tell me dad had been hospitalised. A month going back and forth between home and the hospital followed. He didn’t want to give up, and got a little cranky. Who wouldn’t? As long as he was fighting, we were fighting… But what can you do?”

“After a month in the hospital he wanted to go home. He wanted to go to the house he built and die in peace at a place where he felt safe. It took less than 24 hours before he passed away. My mom, sister and I were sitting around the bed holding his hands. It was 3.30am when he shared his last breath with us, in the living room of his own built house. At that moment I saw one of the most beautiful things I have ever seen. As if someone pulled away some grey thin overlay sheet from all the way down to his toes, all the way to over his head. It was as tragic as it was beautiful. It was a beautiful way to die.” 

Berlin-based, Dutch genre-bending alternative pop artist Benedict October is back showcasing another side of his musical abilities on his brand new single ‘Lovestruck’. On ’Lovestruck’ Benedict October paints such a vivid picture that it makes us feel like we are on the dancefloor his mother entered when his father first saw her, while he was sitting at the bar with his friends.

The single is taken from his upcoming album. ‘And then the ocean’ is Benedict October’s second LP, a stubborn and daring album different to grasp at first. He moved from Amsterdam to Berlin and has done his utmost to create a new and, above all, unique sound. And it’s worked. It is hard to pinpoint exactly who inspired ‘And then the ocean’, its subjects are more personal than ever, even more so then what Benedict initially had in mind. The death of his father has made a hefty impact on the artist as well as the album, resulting in bouts of big and theatrical sounds and songs. At their core, however, they remain small and vulnerable pop songs that are full of hooks and mesmerising choruses.