Track Description:

This track is a haunting and emotional pop ballad with a strong cinematic feel. Driven by a delicate, melancholic piano melody, the arrangement gradually builds with the addition of atmospheric strings and a subtle, pulsing bassline. The mood is somber and reflective, creating a powerful sense of longing and dramatic tension. It is a deeply moving piece that would perfectly underscore poignant or emotional scenes in film and television.

Genre: Pop, Acoustic, Cinematic

Instrumentation: Piano, Strings, Bass, Synthesizer, Female Vocals

Keyword tag/mood: Melancholic, Sad, Dramatic, Cinematic, Emotional, Reflective, Haunting

BPM: 80

Tonality and key signature: F minor

Similar artists: Billie Eilish, Lorde, Lana Del Rey, Birdy, London Grammar.

Bio:

The October Prize are a London-based project built around narrative songwriting, cinematic restraint, and sharply observed lyricism.

Led by songwriter and guitarist Matthew Twist, alongside Luca Twist(guitar and bass), Emma Wikblom (vocals), and Dylan Hooker (drums), the project creates music that prioritises space, precision, and emotional weight over excess.

At the core of The October Prize is a focus on mental fragility and lived experience, explored through grounded, highly visual writing rather than abstraction. Their songs are built from moments and observations, often capturing tension, dislocation, and quiet instability with clarity and restraint. The result is work that feels less like performance and more like documentation.

Musically, the project draws on the melodic discipline of ABBA and The Beatles, alongside the atmosphere and scale of Garbage and Florence + The Machine. These influences are not imitated, but distilled into something more minimal and deliberate, where the writing is allowed to carry the weight.

Based in London, The October Prize sit in a space between indie songwriting and cinematic composition. Their music is not designed to sit in the background. It is written to be engaged with, to be sat with, and, at times, to be confronted.