Here's some music theory for you (apologies in advance)

It’s been a while since I have truly loved what can be classified only as an indie rock song without any of categorical flourishes that make it possible to straddle numerous stylistic boundaries. I’m talking about what can undeniably be placed solely into the realm of indie rock. However, all that has changed. I can now put off the complete immersion into minimalist music and its more contemporary offshoots for maybe a couple of weeks; we’ll see. No matter. For now I have on repeat “The Funeral” by Band of Horses.

My surrender to the bandwagon of horse/wolf/assorted animal bands happened just the other day. Checking out some free downloads I had spotted on the Internet, I fell in love instantly how this song does everything right – that is follow conventions to a T, then throw in a few moderate twists. Actually, fall in love depicts pretty accurately what I thought of the supporting falsetto vocals. Simple and slow vocal movement with the occasional anticipation or suspension hanging over a pulsing distortion that is often typical of bands such as Built to Spill pulled me in instantaneously.

After a few more listens, which was of course inevitable, I noticed a few of the subtle twists that for me make a good song an outstanding one. For starters, the IV-I-V-vi chord progression that carries most of the song is actually 5 measures long considering you count in cut time. This lack of symmetry keeps the listener from letting his attention stray from the music for too long. Keeping in mind that anyone can get used to a 5 measure-long pattern with enough listens, Band of Horses changes the pattern length in the bridge to six measures. These quirks in the length of cycles the chord progression passes through not to mention the length of melodic phrases and rests adds currency to how gripping and enduring this song is to the listener.

One other twist that makes a significant difference is how the IV-I-V-vi chord progression that characterizes so much of the song changes oh so subtly in the end to IV-I-V-I. With this seemingly small adjustment, all tonal ambiguity disappears. Having a progression mostly in a major tonality end with a deceptive cadence to vi each and every time creates tension between the tonalities and also ambiguity as to which is the strongest and dominates the song. As that sixth scale tone in the vi chord lowers to the fifth scale tone, the progression makes a sudden transformation to one that signals a release and ultimately closure. Though I actually miss that ambiguity after a couple of passes through the new chord progression, I appreciate immensely how it brings the song to a close.

Looking at the band’s use of inversions and chord voicings also confirms how the “The Funeral” at times uses very simple ideas, but at others adds subtle, unexpected twists to them. Beginning the song is a set of arpeggios outlining the IV-I-V-vi chord progression that characterizes most of the song. What stands out is how each arpeggio is the first, third, and fifth scale tone of each chord. With such an overly simple collection of arpeggios, one may begin to imagine that the band simply does not know anything of inversions at all. This impression however is quashed by the use of inversions in the final chord progression of the song where it changes over to IV-I-V-I. Where the use of a deceptive cadence once added interest to a fairly simply progression, now a heavy emphasis on the third and fifth in the bass of the harmonies has the same general effect. As a songwriting strategy, this move allows the band to create a sense of resolution without oversimplifying its music.

Basically, it’s these little quirks that allow the song to occupy what I imagine is a coveted space between formulaic songs and snobbish arrogance. Being able to be characterized as classic and clever simultaneously makes “The Funeral” work on numerous levels and allows it to remain interesting after having it on repeat for entire days straight.




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The inevitable death of the Album?

I've noticed this for a while, and maybe a lot of other people have to, but when I check other people's playlists on last.fm they seem to just have their music players on random. Actually, I also notice sometimes that they have them on repeat as well, but what's missing here is playing through an album. Now there are a couple of factors at play here that explain why people are straying from the album format. First of all, having a music player on random is essentially a personal radio station. And/or maybe this is part of a general movement away from the album format and back to the single format.

I can attest to how nice it is to surrender all decision making responsibilities to the algorithms of a software program. Plus there are the little surprises you get from having a song you haven't heard for a while come up. But what is lost when people ignore the album is the sense of continuity that is sometimes (not often enough if you ask me) at the heart of a record. You are basically eschewing the band's choice of songs and song order and handing the power to a cold digital process by which your playlist is chosen.

On the topic of a general return to the dominance of the single, we don't have the mp3 player to fault but instead the downloading software, especially those that specialize in individual songs. That basically exempts the vast majority of bittorrent downloads. Whether you get your music from a free p2p program or through a pay by the download one, you can cut through the flab of worthless, forgettable songs that occasionally characterize the space between singles on countless albums (most of which are of course single-focused for the sake of radio airplay to begin with). This is why I was absolutely baffled when Christina Aguilera released a double album recently. It will inevitably have more throwaway songs and be a waste of money for her and her label since so many more people can buy only the singles at a tiny fraction of the album's cost. I could care less about what kind of money Christina Aguilera and her backers make, but what I'm truly worried about is that this practice of downloading only fragments of an album might spill over into more album friendly (frequently indie)genres and begin to trivialize those types of albums as well.

With both factors at play, the album format might not have (as much of) a prominent role in how people listen to music in the coming years.