The year is 2024, and I am nearing the end of my time as a 24 year old. Following last year’s tradition that means I got to talk about a song with 24 as its title! I’m not sure if I’ll do this again next year, but since I happen to like a song called 24 we’ll roll with it. What song is that you might ask? 24 by Red House Painters naturally! Everyone’s favorite right? Probably not… I tried googling “24 song” and literally could not find this one in the results. Its popularity is eclipsed by Money Man’s 24 among others. Yet somehow Red House Painters’ version is the one I know best. It’s a great song for people who aren’t where they hoped they’d be in their mid-twenties. As such, it’s a great song for me. It’s also a great song in general, a true slowcore classic.

In spite of its quality, I don’t have a hard time seeing why 24 isn’t popular these days. Not only is it from the early 90s, not only is it almost 7 minutes long, but it’s also slow and depressing. If you want music to energize you look elsewhere. Want music to make you feel good? Avoid this band’s whole discography. Personally, I don’t need music to make me happy. Sometimes it’s better for a song to make me feel seen. I like knowing there’s other people out there with similar feelings and concerns. Makes me realize I’m not as isolated in my emotions as I thought. I don’t always feel like 24, but I feel it often enough to resonate. Join me if you’d like to hear more about this dreary song and some reflections on the past year.

Given this song’s relative obscurity, one might wonder how I know about it in the first place. While 24 is not particularly popular among the general population, there’s a certain niche where it is well known. That niche being people who both know what “slowcore” is and actively enjoy it. Red House Painters are a staple for that small but existent cohort. If you have any interest in learning more/joining their ranks check this out. To put it simply, Slowcore’s an indie/alt rock offshoot genre that tends to be slow, minimalistic, and depressive. Its a niche genre with a fitting title. Listen to a few slowcore songs and I’m sure you’ll agree. This is particularly true of 24. If there exists a slowcore-core, this song is it.

The song sets the stage with a modest instrumental intro. It takes over 40 seconds for Mark Kozelek to start singing. Before then we get morose guitar noises. A simple, quiet, unobtrusive sound that’s not altogether unpleasant. The kind of sound that gives you plenty of space to reflect as you take it in. This is the backbone of 24, diligently built upon as the song progresses. Some may find it boring, but this sound sticks with me.

So it’s not loaded stadiums or ballparks
And we’re not kids on swingsets on the blacktop

When he actually does start singing it gets real immediately. He realizes he’s not a smash hit, and that there’s a strong chance he never will be. I think he enjoys more success as Sun Kil Moon these days, but he’s still hardly a household name. I don’t think there’s anything inherently wrong with that. Most people can’t fill a stadium, doesn’t mean they don’t have something valuable to offer. However, it can be crushing if reality is too distant from what you dreamed of. In my case I’m perfectly happy living a loaded stadium-less life. Yet I can relate to not quite being where I want to be at this age. I never aspired to spend most of my 24 as a NEET, but here I am.

I think most people struggle to adapt to adulthood to some degree at this age. Even if you’re well on your way to getting your shit together, it probably hasn’t happened 100% yet. 24 year olds have plenty of growing left to do. At the same time childhood is becoming an increasingly distant memory. I remember being a kid on a swing set. It’s just that, a memory. I can still technically ride a swing if I wanted to, but I won’t ever be that child again. I’m fine with that. It’s still a stark reminder of the unstoppable march of time. If I live long enough this too shall become a distant memory. I suspect Mark Kozelek had a similar thought process while writing these lines.

And I thought at fifteen that I’d have it down by sixteen
And twenty-four keeps breathing in my face

Like a mad whore
And twenty-four keeps pounding at my door

He figured he’d have shit figured out a lot quicker, but he’s 24 and it still hasn’t happened yet. I can certainly relate. That being said, I’m not sure how many people actually have it down by sixteen. Seems like part of his problem is having expectations that were never realistic. If so that’s not entirely his fault. There’s societal expectations and pressures for what earlyish adulthood should look like. You don’t hear much about the many people that don’t live up to it. You also don’t hear about how that’s actually fine. There are plenty of people who have no clue what they’re doing at this age. Some of them never find an answer, but some of them do. There may come a time when it’s genuinely too late, but 24 ain’t it.

While I’ve mostly made peace with my 24, it seems like Mark Kozelek didn’t. It’s a reminder that he’s aging faster than he wants to. That his youth is a limited resource that he’s not using as well as he’d hoped. He compares it to a “mad whore”, which is questionable honestly. Let’s cancel him! From what I gather this guy has a sketchy record with women in general, but I don’t know enough to say more. Maybe he’s a misogynist, maybe those things I read a while ago were all bullshit. I generally don’t care that much about how good a person an artist is. However, it’s not uncommon for their worst tendencies to show up in the art itself. This “mad whore” line very well could relate to his broader attitudes towards women. Even so, it’s one line, and it could be worse. Doesn’t ruin the whole song for me, but it is worth noting.

Like a friend you don’t want to see
Oldness comes with a smile

To every love given child
Oldness comes to rile
The youth who dream suicide

Yep… 24 is an age where you really start realizing you’re aging. You start feeling it in your body in a way you simply haven’t before. It’s not too bad at the moment, but it’s all downhill from here. Even if you live a maximally healthy lifestyle age will do its work on your body eventually. It may feel a bit tacky to dread oldness so much at this age. After all there’s still plenty of time before you really get old. Why waste your twenties worrying about that when it’s better spent living your life? Yet aging simply gets harder and harder to ignore. Maybe it’s better to grapple with it early so it doesn’t catch you by surprise when it really hits.

The last four lines are sung twice, driving the point home. The point being that oldness takes us all regardless of how we live our lives. The only way to truly prevent aging is to die before it happens, and that’s hardly a win. For the youth that want to end it all, aging is a challenge in a way. Even if you don’t take yourself out, something else will eventually. Why rush?

That’s all the lyrics this song has folks. There are no more words to parse. All that remains is a two minute instrumental outro. It mixes up the sound, makes it a bit more complex, but it does not uplift. I tried to give some thought to why this outro works for me. Why am I not bored by this? It certainly would bore plenty of people, and slow-paced music has bored me before. Yet I don’t get tired of this one. Perhaps if I knew music theory I’d be able to figure that out. Best I can say is that it’s a vibe. Not a comfortable relaxing vibe, but it’s one I can resonate with. The impending mortality vibe.

The word death is never explicitly mentioned in this song, but that’s what it boils down to. What we have now is not going to last in its current form. We may die without ever accomplishing what we aspire to. That’s the truth whether we accept it or not. I’ve come closer to accepting it this past year. I hope I still have a good amount of time to work with, but nobody can say for sure. Perhaps it’s a bit vain to worry about it too much. I’m here pondering this shit while thousands of Palestinian children won’t get the chance to see 24. Hell many of them won’t get to see 2. I’m about to hit Aaron Bushnell’s age. Its been well over 24 years since this song was released. Mark Kozelek is still a musician in 2024. Aren’t we just coming up with reasons to be miserable when we have it relatively well? Is that a healthy way to think about it? Probably not. I do not have a good resolution for this thought process. Perhaps I’ll find one as oldness comes.

Red House Painter’s “24” focuses on the age’s most depressing aspects. This is fine, it’s hardly one song’s job to capture every possible angle. But I must say: if you’re reading this and you’re younger than 24, don’t worry too much about it. It’s neither the best nor worst age to be. I don’t think I’ll miss being 24 too much when it’s over, but maybe I should. Can’t count out the distinct possibility that things get worse! What a fun thought! You can’t count out the possibility that things will get better either. We’ll see how it goes~

Thus concludes my ramblings for now. You might notice that this is my first blog post in almost three months. I’ve been cooking up some longer writings in the mean time, but they’re not ready yet. I figured I’d squeeze this one in now while I’m still 24. There’s a pretty hard deadline on this one y’know. I somehow managed to release it multiple days before that deadline arrives. Maybe I am making progress! I’m not sure when I’ll post here again exactly, but I promise it’ll happen quicker than last time. Probably a lot quicker. If you want to get notified when that happens you can sign up here. If not, peace be with you.