The Protomen - Blog Posts

I have been listening to The Protomen albums on loop ever since I discovered them a few months ago, and I have been making some observations on really cool details between songs, one of which I wanted to highlight today: what I have been affectionately referring to as the "funeral motif."

See when some buddies and I first listened through Album I, we got hung up on that whistle at the beginning of Unrest in the House of Light. It kinda stands out, right? An early theory had us wondering if it was related to what motivated Light to tell Megaman the truth. So I did a few listens through trying to figure out what it could mean. From what I can tell, the first instance we hear it in is Funeral for a Son. It's in the spotlight as the brass comes in, and then falls into the background as the song progresses. But! That's not the only time we hear it! It also appears in the very end of Keep Quiet. While all three have those same three notes in common, Unrest has them standing alone, while the other two conclude it in two different ways; Keep Quiet feels tense and anticipatory, while Funeral sounds like it has more finality.

My conclusion is that the funeral motif heralds an incoming disaster, or highlights moments of Hamartia in the characters where this trait will ultimately doom them and everyone around them. Or something like that. In any case, I put together all the pieces I found, and this post is mostly just to set that free into the world. But I may have missed more instances, so if anyone finds more please tell me!!