I know a lot of the similarities between Handbeat Clocktower and Heartbeat Clocktower can probably be attributed to that when they were both released Mothy was planning on revealing Kyle as an incarnation of Adam, then completely dropped that angle. But the musical, titular and structural similarities are SO interesting to me now that most of the story has played out.
Handbeat Clocktower is about Kyle internally and externally confronting the fact that his mother is someone he never really knew and he may have to kill her. Though it doesn’t come to that, she dies by the end of the song. Heartbeat Clocktower is about Gear/Adam, in an act of complete selflessness giving up his mobility for someone he does not really know, who’s actually his mother, in order to save her life.
Idk I just think it’s interesting that in Mothy’s two most similar songs deal with deal with a young man’s relationship with his mother only to have the most different outcomes possible.