Freeman sings about “running from the nighttime” in this song, comparing his sadness to the inevitable and inescapable approach of the night. You can’t avoid the setting sun, just like you can’t avoid negative emotions in life. The important thing is to know the sun will return and relieve you. Lines like “it’s all gone wrong again” demonstrate the cyclical nature of pain, with new problems always seeming to come for you after you feel like you’ve finally healed. Intimate vocals, droning rhythms, and emotional harmonies set the scene for these hopeless feelings.
“Watchtower” shows Freeman searching for light, asking it to “brighten up my darkest hour” and “hold me in my lonesome hour.” Beautiful acoustic guitar riffs during the break after the second chorus seems representative of the moments of hope during a tense time, a moment of pretty joy in the marching landscape of overwhelming emotions. The extended outro uses building production, overlapping vocals, and the repeated lyric “need a light to shine on me” to heighten the relatable desperation present throughout this song.
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