#that key visual promo thing in the ep with them killed me

[neorukixart]

Re:Creators ended and I couldn’t see my girls being in love and happy in hell, I demand their spin off

[the-big-sue]

SOTT Instrumentation

So the tumblr purge killed this post because it was under a Read More and that fucking blows. But Hozier worked with Booker T. on his new EP and that reminded me of this post. So here it is:

So I was going to make an extra long post about the interesting choices in instrumentation on Sign of the Times, but it got…. Very very long. So I’m going to just shorten it to a few of the best bits I found.

The production on the track is incredibly rich and the choices made in the the accompaniment and arrangement are just as indicative of the themes of this song as the lyrics.

The Highlights:

The humanization of the ‘choir’ in the pre-chorus and chorus

The use of flexible irregular rhythm in the ‘chaotic’ act of the song

Water and flight imagery

Unusual instruments and sounds that Mean Something

The unusual resolution

The Pre-Chorus (aka the falsetto part)

In the pre-chorus the most important lyrics in relation to the instruments are “the bullets, the bullets”. As it’s been discussed, the official lyrics have a misprint because these change to “your bullet, a bullet” for the repeated instance in the first pre-chorus. Below is a breakdown of the instruments accompaniment for each pre-chorus

Pre-Chorus 1: ‘the bullets, the bullets / your bullet, a bullet’ - wavering, faint violins

Chorus 1: strings

The faint violins are used to give a slight sense of tense anticipation. The fuller violin section fills out the wall of sound in the chorus.

String instruments are often used to replicate the range of the human voice. A string quartet has two violins, a viola and a cello to replicate a human quartet with soprano, alto, tenor and bass voices. In the context of the progression of the song, this metaphorical ‘choir’ is the least human. Strings do not use air (or ‘breath’) but are manually played.

Pre-Chorus 2: ‘the bullets, the bullets / the bullets, the bullets’ - electric organ

Chorus 2: Synth choir

The use of the electric organ is subtle and fascinating. Organs have heavy association with church imagery. Electric organs have a strong history in rock music. In this case, the use is more Us and Them by Pink Floyd than Green Onions by Booker T. This is the second use of an instrument as a metaphorical ‘choir’ and one step closer to human, as organs use air to generate sounds, imitating breath and the human voice. (In this case it’s an electric organ, but that would be stylistic choice so as to not go too far into the funeral imagery)

The chorus here seems to use a synth choir, meaning computer stored versions of the human voice, or some other kind of harmonic synth sounds. Again that’s even closer to a human ‘choir’.

Pre-Chorus 3: ‘the bullets, the bullets / the bullets, the bullets’ - drum and rhythm guitar arrhythmic breakdowns (tuplets)

Here the metaphorical ‘choir’ drops out to allow the rhythm section to signal the coming chaotic , section (more on that later)

Bridge, Final Chorus + Chorus’ Riff - real human choir

The rest of the song uses real human voices. Finally achieving a kind of harmonic ‘truth’. As someone who isn’t religious but has a long history of singing Christian music, each of these ‘choirs’ resonate differently for me, but overall represent a specific kind of progression.

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The Chaotic Act:

If there’s one thing I’ve been flailing about is the drumming on this song. It’s executed very well, but also designed well to broadcast constraint and chaos.

The song starts with the drumming and rhythm guitar keeping within the established beat, even for the simple breakdowns and pick ups. Even the initial piano is acting equally as percussion and harmonic accompaniment plodding along at the start.

As the song progresses, and particularly from the third pre-chorus on through the bridge, the drums use irregular rhythm which makes the song sound so dramatic. The actual beat of the song doesn’t change too much, but the way the drums break down the rhythm gives the impression of time slowing down and flexing for emphasis. This is also the most ‘chaotic’ part of the song, including the vocal rhythm. (more on that later)

This is a classic rock song move, usually accompanied by guitar solos etc. In this song, it emphasizes a tumultuous moment before finding clarity in the final chorus and chorus’ riff.

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Water and flight imagery

The flight imagery is very easy to identify. There are four moments where a rocket-like whistle noise is used. Firstly in the intro of the song as a moment of foreshadowing. Secondly in the second verse after the word ‘atmosphere’, which is very on the nose. Thirdly in the final chorus when he says ‘we’ve got to away’ aka take-off. And lastly in the final sustained ‘away’ which would be exiting the atmosphere.

The water imagery is more evident in the rhythm. Harry’s promo has been heavy into the water visuals, while still keeping a somber atmosphere, avoiding an association with the ‘purity’ or rebirth elements. Here, water is more of a symbol of trying times, like weathering rough seas. This is where the chaotic section of the song comes in. The drums resemble tumbling waves, the vocal syncopation resembles the beating of waves as well as the kind of off-beat feeling you get when your breath is knocked out of you, and finally the vocal choices on ‘will we ever learn?/we’ve been here before’ sound like gasps for air. *insert Dunkirk drowning gif of doom*

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Unusual Instruments

So other than the core rock band, we’ve covered that the song uses strings, an electric organ, synth vocals and real human vocals.

The lead guitar part starts off as a sighing commentary on the first chorus and throughout. Eventually that sighing turns into wailing in the Chaotic section.

The electric organ is so prog rock to me and I love it. It also gives off a church vibe, but in a alt-church way with the electric organ. To me it re-emphasizes the more somber tone of the lyrics and my personal interpretation of this song as being about grief and loss.

There’s a distinct rocket whistle effect that we’ve already discussed.

For vocal effects, there’s a doubling and echo effect on the falsetto pre-chorus, which mimics the switch into plural pronouns. The falsetto also gives an impression of innocence.

Finally the weirdest and most subtle instrument is the orchestra chime, aka the bell sound. I probably heard this on my 100th listen (I’ve definitely done my part on the streaming front), but at 4:28 there are two hits on an orchestra set of chimes (which are vertical static chimes hit with a soft mallet). This is immediately after the ‘it’s just what we know’ line and ends the Chaotic section. Very much a ‘For Whom the Bell Tolls’ moment, so let’s get literary with the John Donne poem:

For whom the bell tolls a poem (No man is an island) by John Donne No man is an island, Entire of itself. Each is a piece of the continent, A part of the main. If a clod be washed away by the sea, Europe is the less. As well as if a promontory were. As well as if a manor of thine own Or of thine friend's were. Each man's death diminishes me, For I am involved in mankind. Therefore, send not to know For whom the bell tolls, It tolls for thee.

LITERALLY !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! ok I’m done with these bells.

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The Ending

The vocal line does not resolve to the tonic (or the primary chord of the key) but the piano line does.

In relation to the flight imagery, this moment comes right after the final rocket sound, which to me is a moment of exiting the atmosphere. We, the listener, do not exit the atmosphere. The voice, or what the voice personifies, exits but does not resolve for our ears. After the vocal line ends, the descending guitar line and drums feel like how you would slow down if you were running towards the edge of a cliff, but with no intention of jump off it.

The human choir takes on a celestial quality. It was previously used as harmonic accompaniment, but in its resolution it moves into polyphony as each vocal part moves to find it’s natural end note before blinking out of the score one by one. The three repeated notes on the piano are counter to the 4/4 (or 2/2) meter, so seem off beat. To me, it resembles how objects in space gently rotate on their axis as they move. As the piano and vocal lines resolve and fade, the final two piano chords seem like the moment the object disappears into the stars so you just have the stars winking passively back at you. (WOW THAT’S DEEP I’M DONE NOW)