Wow,you didn't just casually include The Church on your list and expect me to move on like I didn’t see “Under the Milky Way” sitting there quietly, pretending it’s just some dreamy, late-night song people vaguely remember from a college radio station.
That song?
That song is cosmic grief.
It’s the sound of looking up at the sky for answers and realizing the sky isn’t going to give you any.It’s the feeling of being surrounded by something vast and infinite, yet still feeling alone inside your own skin.
Everyone hears the opening guitar line and thinks it’s atmosphere.But it’s not.It’s a warning.A threshold.That reverb-drenched tone that sounds like it was recorded inside a cathedral built just for worshiping loneliness.
Then the voice drops in—detached, a little narcotic, like someone who’s been drifting too long in memory to fully rejoin the present.
And then there’s that line—where he wishes he knew what she was looking for ...
He doesn’t say it like a question.He says it like a resignation.Like he already knows he’s never going to find out.Like maybe he’s never been what the other person needed, and he’s finally stopped pretending otherwise.
And no one talks about the break in that song.
That sudden quiet where the lyrics vanish, leaving only that gentle, aching instrumental—like a sigh or a decision that’s final.
I hate how people slap it on background playlists like it’s just moody wallpaper.
“Under the Milky Way” is not ambiance.It’s an elegy.You want to get inspired?Play that song on repeat until you’re ready to create your own art, because you figure out deep inside what you were looking for in that right moment.
Though sometimes it’s what plays in the background the moment you realize the thing you loved most isn’t coming back—and the world keeps spinning anyway.You don’t hum it.You live in it for four and a half minutes, and if you’re not careful, it follows you around for days afterward.
So, yeah—The Church.
I didn’t know you’d go there, but I’m glad you did.It’s something I needed as a reminder that I never had someone, and falling for it a second time would be stupid.
Peace out, DeadStrings.
ChapterForty-Three
Private Message | EchoZone Internal Chat
From: DeadStrings
To: StringTheory27
Date: May 14th, 1997, 12:41 AM
Subject: Still Here
You’ve been a little absent.
Yes, I’ve noticed.Honestly, I wasn’t going to say anything, but then again—this whole thing we’re doing?
It’s kind of built on saying the things we usually swallow.So, yeah ...I noticed.I’m not complaining.Just saying you left a space, and I sat in it for a while.
Let “Under the Milky Way” loop a few too many times.Not a bad way to pass the time, honestly.
Tonight I’ve got that feeling again.
You know the one.
Where you’re searching for something and you don’t even know what the fuck it is.
You just feel it—like an ache lodged somewhere between your chest and whatever’s left of your soul.
