999,893: Drakkar Sauna — Pirate Treasure

Pirate Treasure - Drakkar Saun...

My mom is fond of saying that friends come and go, but family is forever, whether you like it or not. She’s wrong of course. Some people actually love their families, and many families are bonded by an internal feuding that bounces from one drunken Thanksgiving to the next, but plenty of people don’t care enough to do anything but walk away.

Drakkar Sauna tells the story of those that just don’t care anymore in their uncharacteristically serious and grounded “Pirate Treasure.” Upon the death of the parents, one child is left with the task of settling the estate, size-unknown, while the brother and sister just want their cash on the back-end.

There aren’t emotional fireworks at play, just a resigned sadness toward the apathy of the distant siblings. Their vocals weave in odd harmonies, meditating on the death of their family over a simple piano waltz that rolls slowly downhill, as in defeat.

Then it repeats from the top.

I keep having these dreams in which my dad dies, but he’s still around, complaining to me about how poorly people are dealing with his death. My dad is not one to hold his many opinions close to his vest, so of course he would stick around and talk some shit about the family, even after he has passed.

In these dreams, I’m just as incompetent as everyone else, even though I’m trying to be a hero, while my dad keeps lumping shit on top of me. My mother, brother, sister and myself argue and pick nits and yell. All that anger and accusation proves we feel something, and are still connected, whether we like it or not.

The song says that “ambivalence is sent to menace us, like cannons are meant to finish us.” Drakkar Sauna aren’t looking for love or support; they just want to be able get some kind of reaction to prove that there’s still a family in there, somewhere.