Extra Time “The Boy Who Dreamed Of The Stars”

When writing about an experience as traumatic as child abuse, turning it into a song and singing it as a form of a dialogue must have been very painful. For Brendan from Extra Time it was that personal and that necessary, though. “As a survivor of this situation”, he says, “I finally wanted to address this subject through a song as my way of dealing with something that was buried a long way in my past.”

“The Boy Who Dreamed Of The Stars” is not an allegory, though, it is not a creative way of telling a story either – it is the story itself. The lyrics, step by step, in the most chilling manner, reveal how a predator targets and lures a young child. In this case, with a telescope and an offer to see the stars. 

With a topic as sensitive as this, it is not easy, and it cannot be easy for the listener to place themselves in somebody else’s painful trauma. That’s an obvious statement, however at the same time, visualising and empathising the entire situation will make you listen to the entire song on one breath, with increasing shivers, as you experience someone else’s horror. 

“The Boy Who Dreamed Of The Stars” does that in a way which is not intrusive, but it feels like reading somebody’s secret diary. A diary which should have never had to be written. 

Photo: Press release