I recently read an interview with Starfucker, about how the whole album of Reptilians is about death. Alan Watts talks about death throughout the entire album, but this song is definitely where those opinions about death are most prevalent. Reptilians was written after Josh Hodges grandmother died, and you can tell it's a lot less light and boisterous than their previous albums. Polyvinyl described Death as a Fetish as "the title becomes a liberating mantra sung over an immediately hummable keyboard-driven loop."
Death as a Fetish is about exactly that, liberating. If I had to choose one song to represent Reptilians, this would be it. It's an entire album about death, but it's not sad. It's upbeat. Listen to what Watts is saying on the album, death is responsible for giving life meaning and purpose. This song takes that to an extreme, it's about how death is needed. The title isn't referring to a sexual fetish, look at the first definition of a fetish in the dictionary: a strong and unusual need or desire for something.
Everyone, and everything perishes. This song is Hodges' acceptance of that. It's beautiful really. Suffering is caused by desire, and when we cease to desire to live for ever, we stop suffering when we don't.
I recently read an interview with Starfucker, about how the whole album of Reptilians is about death. Alan Watts talks about death throughout the entire album, but this song is definitely where those opinions about death are most prevalent. Reptilians was written after Josh Hodges grandmother died, and you can tell it's a lot less light and boisterous than their previous albums. Polyvinyl described Death as a Fetish as "the title becomes a liberating mantra sung over an immediately hummable keyboard-driven loop."
Death as a Fetish is about exactly that, liberating. If I had to choose one song to represent Reptilians, this would be it. It's an entire album about death, but it's not sad. It's upbeat. Listen to what Watts is saying on the album, death is responsible for giving life meaning and purpose. This song takes that to an extreme, it's about how death is needed. The title isn't referring to a sexual fetish, look at the first definition of a fetish in the dictionary: a strong and unusual need or desire for something.
Everyone, and everything perishes. This song is Hodges' acceptance of that. It's beautiful really. Suffering is caused by desire, and when we cease to desire to live for ever, we stop suffering when we don't.