Before making Rocinate, the members of Ester Drang almost died in a serious auto accident while on tour. Though the only causalities of the van wreck ended up being their instruments, one would expect the influences of such a life-changing event to appear in the band’s music. These expectations seem immediately fulfilled by the opening song "Come Back Alive," which features the chorus "come back alive/come back tonight."

However, despite the fact that songs on Rocinate make reference to death, the album seems more concerned with the subject in respect to being alive. On "Valencia’s Dying Dream," lead singer Bryce Chambers claims "beauty is a dying dream" but specifically within the context of trying to forget and move on from an old relationship. Likewise, on the song "Grave Mistake," Chambers sings "there’s a way to grave mistake/so I’m dying to just be with you." But as the chorus concludes with "there’s a day when this will all fade/and none of this feels real to me," the song seems less concerned with actual death and more interested in how the past, including its mistakes, eventually fades away, regardless of how painful it was.

If one had to pick a theme for Rocinate, it would not be death, but moving on from the past and going forward with life. In regards to the accident, band member James McAlister was quoted as saying, "I think the crash was an awakening for us. We lost all our equipment, but held on to our convictions. We knew our next record would have to be a serious leap forward and embody all that fear and hope." Or as put in the song "Great Expectations," "the horizon is up ahead/I see golden sunsets/it’s so hard to forget/all the worries and regrets/all the lost time we have spent."

The music complements the melancholy subject matter with dreamy soundscapes of strings, guitars, piano, and horns built upon varied percussion (traditional drums, steel drums, xylophone, possibly the vibraphone?, and even handclaps). "Smoke and Air" opens with understated steel drums and gives way to a guitar line during the chorus that sounds even sadder than Chambers does as he sings, "it’s all for nothing/if we don’t know where we’re going." Unfortunately, sometimes the band does let its instruments run away from the ‘atmospheric’ mood of the music. The instrumental "Caledonia" breaks down into what sounds like a bad, noisy (in comparison with the rest of the album) free-form jazz jam, featuring a cringe-worthy, cheesy keyboard breakdown. Thankfully, such moments are few, and when the album is over, one’s appropriately hazy recollection of the dream-like music is of sounds that suggest both depression and a will to overcome it.