After the previously released two singles – the anthemic “Grow Up” and the candid “Right Here With Me” – Octopus Montage now continues the formation’s mission to showcase unique versatility and diversified musicianship through the quartet’s third single – the demolishing and personal “A Shortcut”! A dismal product, which contains multiple shifts in musical style and a clear concept executed with a singular vision in mind, “A Shortcut” never settles into repetitiveness or slacking off at any point, with its breaking rhythm section and aggressive guitar riffs being utilized throughout the entire composition (alongside enough memorable melodies and leads to remain interesting and varied, however) to a crushing mid-tempo groove, further outlined by the high shrieking and roars adding to the already epic sound. Embracing their strengths and using their instrumental prowess, the members of Octopus Montage crafted “A Shortcut” as a product that exhibits influences from various different genres
Explaining the intentions for creating a product of this sort, Octopus Montage collectively adds: “Arguably the heaviest song on the upcoming record record, “A Shortcut” outlines the issues of living with a mental health issue. The song goes into depth on the experience of going through a dark patch for a prolonged period of time, with the use of extensive screaming, lack of clean vocals and multiple breakdowns, creating a picture of the difficulties some individuals face. Written based upon past experiences, Alex not only expresses the difficulty of enduring the issues (“so tell me how do I lie to make myself feel better on the inside”), but also expresses emotions such as guilt after coming out of an issue and having made loved ones lives extremely difficult due to the issues, (“Why don’t you fucking hate me when all this pain has come from me”), creating a 360° picture of issues that can sometimes be seen as 2 dimensional.”