Daffo’s latest single “Winter Hat” is an acknowledgement of the grief that comes with growing up, and the fact that, even against one’s will, life must go on.
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Stream: “Winter Hat” – Daffo
Winter is the season of embracing impermanence.
The trees lose their leaves, the flowers shrivel and wilt, the birds fly south, and every living thing takes a much-needed break from the life it once knew. Though the season is filled with holiday cheer for many, it is also a time of tremendous grief for others. In their newest release, “Winter Hat,” Brooklyn-based artist Daffo (the artist moniker for Gabi Gamberg) explores the heartbreak of longing for a place and time you can never get back, no matter how hard you try.

Wasting no time at all, the listener is jolted to attention by drill-like drums, the buzzing of an electric guitar, and Daffo’s voice, gravely and untamed like a cozy fire in the midst of a snowstorm. One of the most memorable lines of the song is the opener, in which Gamberg takes a playful childhood memory and reimagines it as something a little more sinister:
“Kill a tree and force it through the door
Feed it faucet water from the floor
Don’t know how else to take care of it
Can hardly help myself
without wanting to quit”
It is a brief, but vulnerable admission of the struggles of adulthood – how sometimes, just taking care of oneself can feel like a daunting task, especially while holding the weight of responsibility for something or someone else.

Throughout the song, there is a subtle tone of anger, an explosive reaction concealing the fragility one’s feelings.
Anger is a secondary emotion; it’s the heavy armor we put on when we’re hurting. When listening to “Winter Hat,” it’s evident that there is something more to the frustration that’s been put on display. There is a fresh pain lingering beneath the hard, frozen surface. Somewhere deep, there is a kid grieving their snowman-friend that melted away; there is a kid grieving their innocence.
In the chorus, Gamberg imitates the sound of a baby crying. It is one out of many details that makes up the brilliance of this song. They wail:
“Oh, it’s the kid in you,
the one that never grew
The wonder is overdue
Wah! You can’t help being sad
Dressed up for combat
in your winter hat”
The five stages of grief don’t have to occur in any particular order. Just like our emotions, they can shift back and forth; it’s a constant movement, a slow dance.

In “Winter Hat,” we witness Gabi Gamberg go through all the stages while trying desperately to hold their ground, until, right at the end, there’s a sobering moment of acceptance. Gamberg suddenly lets go, stands back, and takes in the messy sight from the outside, admitting to themself the brutal yet freeing truth that: “There’s nothing I can do.”
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Stream: “Winter Hat” – Daffo
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