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lyrker · 2 years ago

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Malevolent episode 20, “The King” music timestamps + literally a summary and also Arthur’s poem

John: You Call It Madness (I Call It Love) (Russ Columbo, 1932)

Arthur: Faroes Song (Original piece by Arthur)

Faroes Lullaby (an “important song”, has to do with Faroe)

Reminiscent: Category for all the piano pieces that are not Faroes Song and Faroes Lullaby

-5:44 “Faroes Song (?)”

A piano plays distantly in the midst of the carnage.

It's a destroyed amphitheater, steps leading to the center. Blood footsteps walk upwards. the song changes at

6:46 “Faroes Lullaby”

Someone is playing a piano to an empty audience. Their back is to them. Debris litters the place. The person is unscathed.

The man is in a suit, black. His feet are bare and blood stains their hands and feet both, painting the keys of the piano crimson.

-12:26 “Faroes Song”

The man asks why Arthur is so special.

He stutters before saying that, perhaps it’s his humanity, the best and worst it has to offer. His stubbornness, compassion, mistakes, how he feels pulled to follow a certain path but he follows his humanity. He doesn’t give up, forget, or allow forgiveness. He thinks it’s his humanity that allowed a fragment of a god to stay with him, to see what he could be.

The stranger does not think so.

-14:34 “Faroes Lullaby”

The Stranger flicks open the music box. It plays as Arthur asks what happens next.

-14:44 “Reminiscent”

The stranger says he wins. Arthur asks how, and the Stranger asks Arthur how he thinks it plays out. John tries to get Arthur to get away, but the stranger tells John to shut up. The stranger tells Arthur to divorce himself from John and say what his heart says. The stranger keeps pushing, saying he’s a “fan” of them, and asks who they think he wants to win. Arthur andwers John. John does not like this. He answers “Never! It’s not gonna happen, it’s not true.”

The stranger says of “course it’s not true,” and “he’s gonna sacrifice himself for you, obviously.”

-22:20 “Faroes Song”

John and Arthur think about their encounter with Kayne, and ponder on an outcome they can change. John says maybe they can, but is unsure. Even as the King, he says, he has no understanding of what they’re dealing with.

Arthur assures himself that he is the captain of his soul as John guides him back to the gates, trying to get to the path towards the plateau.

-23:21 “Reminiscent”

Arthur wonders what would happen if they stayed in the Dreamlands. John asks if he believed the King would just let it all go and let them.

Arthur says, if they’re an anomaly Kayne couldn’t understand, they may be able to break destiny. John doesn’t deny him, but asks to what end. Arthur says “our end” and brings up how Kayne said it would end in one of them walking away unscathed and neither returning home. John asks if it even matters, but Arthur asks if the path in the city continues. He assures them both it’s all a choice. John asks if it’s just the illusion of choice.

The music stops and changes, slower and more somber, at 24:22.

Arthur says he doesn’t get it anymore, that everything feels predetermined and he feels inconsequential, because, if everything he does is insignificant against the truth of the universe, the fight is futile.

25:00 the music changes to the cheerful, uncharacteristically upbeat piano. John says Arthur may be right, maybe a choice is enough, and pushes to go deeper in the city, and says at least it’s their choice.

-26:08 “Reminiscent”

Arthur wonders how it is at home, how long they’ve been gone and what the city looks like. He hopes Parker’s (Peter Yang) family finds solace.

They won’t exit the city yet, currently on a walk along the outer wall. The buildings within are quaint.

-28:06 “Reminiscent”

Arthur asks what John wants to do when they get back home. He says he doesn’t know, and talks about the time in the hospital, how he was angry about the inability to do anything, and his role as the King was driving others mad. But he found none of that.

Arthur says he found his humanity, found Lilly.

John says she was just a figurehead. The first human he didn’t need anything from. He just depended on her warmth. Hoped she would come back with her routine, and in the hope he realized he was, for the first time, alone, and it was frightening. The Dark World was a nightmare, but not empty.

Arthur says Lilly made John want more out of his existence.

-31:00 “Reminiscent”

Lilly the strange animal from before is here, and she is dying, a part of her stomach is gone. Arthur asks John if he’s okay, and he says no.

Arthur shuffles for something to do, but says they can’t do anything. John makes Arthur open the bag, to try and use the lighter, or the bag itself to stop the bleeding. Arthur doesn’t know what John wants him to do. The dagger falls out, and John looks for the shaving kit.

-31:50 the music begins again.

Arthur repeats what Daniel said, “life is loss.” John is panicking, and Arthur holds the dagger, saying Kayne said Daniel told him when to use it.

John says this is not what he meant, but Arthur repeats “Everyone will face it.”

John is panicking, he doesn’t want Arthur to stab Lilly.

Daniel was Bella, Arthur’s wife's father, and in turn Faroes Grandfather.

John does not want to kill her. Arthur says they can’t save her.

33:12 the music changes in tone, even more sad and somber.

Arthur says they either let her die slowly or accept life is loss and out an end to her suffering. “I am sorry, my friend.”

John agrees finally, that they can’t leave her to die slowly. He says he’ll do it, rather than Arthur who may miss. He asks Arthur to do him a favor, and repeat what he says to Lilly.

34:14 the music starts back up again, sad and somber, slow.

“You were a good girl, Lilly.” I’m sorry I failed you. I know you can’t hear my voice. But I want you to know that you are loved”

“Goodbye, Lilly.” John says.

“Goodbye, Faroe.” Arthur says.

Lilly dies, and John and Arthur both cry.

Life is loss.

-37:11 “Reminiscent”

Before they leave for the plateau, Arthur feels like this may be the last chance to tell John something.

He talks of when his parents died, how he didn’t understand why what happened, happened. A family friend suggested a creative outlet, which eventually sparked his love for music, but at the time he couldn’t play, too young, so he wrote a poem.

He recites it to John.

The poem goes as says:

“I don’t recall, how we met,

as I was far too young,

I knew you not as you are now,

‘Cause to me you were the sun,

An always preset warmth and glow,

a light that’s always there,

to wipe the tears from out my eyes,

to brush my matted hair,

And I would lie, if not to say

our relationship was pure,

I am young, a cause of grief,

Of this I am quite sure,

Despite all I’d be remiss,

to say there was no love,

A calmness, and a careful word,

a nudge and not a shove,

There were nights, that I recall

I needed you the most,

I’d crawl from bed, walk to you,

and you would hold me close,

Between the love of both of you,

to ail my sleeping strife,

I’d never felt so safe and yet so

cold in all my life,

I too recall a time when I was

trying to impress,

A goofy boy named Arthur dressed up,

In his mothers best,

Was only dad who laughed with me,

as mother, you withdrew,

but when he joined in dressing up,

you cried with laughter too,

And there was the time, we all did find,

ourselves stuck in the rain,

and mother had her gown near soaked

and dad was much the same

And though we all were miserable

Mother found us a spot of dry

in which we ate a pretend meal

of jelly and sea pie.

And now you’re gone and I can’t explain,

the loss the lingers here,

the size of a young boys parents, that

he wishes could be near.

And there are nights, where he needs you,

and he still crawls out of bed,

And walks towards your bedroom door,

before recalling that you’re dead.

And I want someone to tell that boy,

to swallow all that hate,

that nothing that he could’ve said,

would’ve changed his parents’ fate,

And I want that someone to be you,

as I write this, but alas,

This pain will linger with me still,

I pray this too shall pass.”

-40:45 “Reminiscent”

They are nearing the top. This is it, he’s waiting for them.

John says, whatever happens, he will never forget Arthur.

Arthur says the same.

The steps disappear into a void of nothing, and they move in.

-41:46 “Reminiscent”

The plateau is a circle of dark violent stone and cracks reminiscent to rippling water. The sky is black, stars freckling the sky.

-45:05 “Reminiscent”

They are where they first met—Arthur’s office.

The King explains that John is just a piece of him, no matter what, he is a fragment of a god trapped in a mortal shell, waiting for an escape.

Arthur says he isn’t anymore, and the King says he doesn’t really believe that.

Arthur says he does.

The King is surprised how much John as over Arthur, how much Arthur sympathizes even after John admitted to killing Emily and blame him for killing Faroe. Arthur says he hates John for betraying his trust, but not for telling him what he is.

The King calls him a murderer, and Arthur agrees.

The King can tell Arthur despises him, repeats the line “of someone not to fuck with,” reminiscent to episode one, and says “and yet, you love him.”

46:15 the music starts again, a deep version of Faroes song plays.

Arthur says he supposes so, and the King asks him if he hears how mad he sounds. They bicker, Arthur saying John helped him, he trusts him and he is his friend and the King reminds him of everything bad John has done. He asks if Parker’s friendship didn’t matter, if he’s willing to let go of his murder and Emily’s, and as the Arthur denies it all, the King asks if he agrees that John deserves to be punished, and again Arthur says no. Because he cannot lose another person.

47:00 the music changes once more.

The King says death surrounds him and takes everything while Arthur escapes unscathed. Arthur says he’s paying for his mistakes, from his hand to his eyes, to everything. That he has nothing left, not a soul left to count on but John.

47:45 the piano continues and is joined by strings.

The King calls Arthur a fool, and that he is nothing to John but a tool, but Arthur says he needs to trust in something, believing they can change even if he is letting a monster live.

-50:10 “Reminiscent”

John is giving himself up, if it means Arthur isn’t being tortured, if he lets Arthur be, alone and alive and home safe. Arthur says they can’t trust him, but John replies he’ll do it, or he’ll fight him every step of the way. It’s the only way, and the deal is made.

-51:06

Arthur knows he can’t defeat him. He opens the music box, and a portion of the lullaby plays before it closes, replaced by a different piano song.

Arthur says he doesn’t have to let him win.

Arthur says Daniel told him “You cannot defeat it, but you don’t have to let it win.”

Arthur stabs himself, and both halves of the King cry out. John yells for the King to save him, and he refuses, telling John to leave him and rejoin him instead. The King keeps refusing to save Arthur, and John says a last goodbye before Arthur is thrown somewhere else, snowy and windy, calling out for John.

#ahaaaa #uhm #i actually cried like. sm .#i had to scream into my pillow.#and yet you love him #I supposed I do #The music box #…Kayne #Lilly ):#EVERYTHING.#FUCK.#i’m so sad i’m so so sad #dee hurry up i want to Coda #malevolent #malevolent podcast #lyrker unlurks: malevolent

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norahmusic · 7 months ago

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Why do melodies bring us out our feelings?

Songs are perceived emotionally by our senses through melody and harmony. Melody is the part of a song that gets wrapped in your brain after listening to it. Rhythm is what sets the tone of a melody. Melody consists of a pitch or the sequence of sounds arranged as a series of notes and duration of each one of the notes on such sequence of notes (1). Harmony progression is how notes are combined simultaneously in a melody. Minor chords are used to provide low emotions and major chords usually convey happiness and optimism. Dissonant harmonies introduce tension and consonant harmonies stability and resolution. These progressions are modulated by music dynamics such as crescendos (growing intensity) and decrescendos (decreasing intensity) on each piece, emphasizing key moments.

The first known melody is dated on 1400 B.C and was discovered on a clay tablet in Syria (1). It is called “Hurrian Hymn No.6” (2). In prehistory, humans mimicked sunrises and sunsets as they perceived them in nature, connecting with their inner being and nature. Melodies are a result of mirroring and mimicking our environment and ambient. This is also known as emotional resonance (3). Since our brains recognize better a repeated pattern than a new one, earworms become a successful element inside a melody. Notes combination, predictability and repetition on melodies composition makes our brain recognise as familiar (9) due to its structure and harmony.

Music is a universal language, like Mathematics. Rhythm and the way notes are combined is what produce a melody of one type or another. Melodies, spoken language and time perception of sound, are processed differently on each hemisphere, speaking processing happens in the left and melodic processing on the right auditory cortex (4). We have in common the shape and composition as human beings (senses to perceive the ambient when it comes to feel music and listen to another person speaking for instance), therefore, we share the same scale of feelings (perception varies on each one of us since our background and evolution are different). A Melody can shake and make shiver any human across the globe, jumping over any barrier we attempt to put in between us.

Rhythms have to do with timing, and how a same structure of chords and notes can seem so different, even if we compare the “ingredients” of two melodies and as a result we see they seem to be equal at first sight but they don´t sound the same when heard because “the way they are mixed down” is different. Rhythm is the heartbeat of a melody, and it synchronizes with our heartbeats when we expose ourselves to a song. When we listen to a song we end up moving our body at that same beat. Synchronizing with rhythm and drumming has been used as an evolutive resource, to keep the social group together, strengthen bonds and improve chances of survival (4) since prehistory.

Music makes us feel good, can surprise us, helps us to appraise things and music itself, it is action intended. It helps us being synchronized with our feelings, evokes memories and realizes past emotions, connects us and promotes the use of our imagination. Fast beats and bright tones can make us motivate ourselves inducing more positive emotions and slow beats have the opposite effect on us. Rhythmic patterns evoke emotional responses on our brain and body. Tensions and releases created within rhythm disrupt the pattern of a melody, solving it after a number of compasses releasing the tension, providing a sense of pleasure in the brain when heard. We synchronize with notes, chords and beats; hence we are always exposed to connect with what we are listening to. We connect with melodies due to emotional resonance, when listening to a song, we release mirror neurons and emotional contagion takes place, making us to live that story while the song is playing as if it was our own story. Lyrics act as a storyteller, sharing a story about Love and Loss, a Bad Day, Happiness and Joy, Friendship, Personal Liberation, Life, the Magic of Minor or a World of Fantasy (5). Singing along to the melody you are listening to, makes us feeling like being part of that story for a while, activating our sense of happiness and feeling of being understood, making us feel relieved.

Lyrics also encourage our intellect with subliminal messages we encounter when we listen carefully to a composition. Spoken language elevates music higher bringing creativity to a half-hidden level that our brains identify as puzzles, and it does it expressing and meaning more than what we literally hear in a verse, a chorus, or a bridge within the song we are listening to. Songs send hidden messages we encounter when we mirror with what it´s telling us, being able to understand through our own experiences and resonating with those. Unexpected changes in melodies such as chord progression or key change brings us a feeling of surprise that intensifies our emotional response as listeners rewarding us with pleasure afterwards. This is why melodies are so engaging, they speak right to our heart and our brain through a language we can understand.

Melodies help us enhancing our memory unlocking “lost” memories of a past and good moment for instance, letting us have a better perception of what happened if that memory wasn´t a good experience and easing our perception of that moment. Music helps to have more quality of life and it helps to have a “better organized closet” up there our shoulders. The feeling of pleasure that our body experiment when listening to a calming and gentle melodies, triggers the production of “happy hormones” (6). Melodies can act as painkillers for chronic pain patients as well, easing the stress they experiment while suffering pain giving the brain and body a more than needed break, helping it to self-regulate better for a while and improving health in the middle and long term. The same logic works for healthcare providers, music can also relieve stress and making their daily work a bit better.

We can use music and melodies to perform a better activity (7). A runner may listen to more boosting melodies than dancers or chronic-pain patients, because the response of the endocrine system differs while listening to those different melodies, and so is our physical activity. Other more “unstructured, floaty and dreamy” melodies can be used to empower and boost creativity on artists or people who develop creative work. There are different types of components linked to positive emotions (8). Melodies can lift up your mood with brighter timbre keys or calm you down with more relaxed tunes, it brings us companion when feeling lonely with minor tones and cheering us up when we are feeling down with major tones.

This is how melodies connect with us and makes us connect among us. Music is live human history. A history of our experiences, the way we deal with them and how we progress in solving them. The common threads we use to share this information among us are melodies and songs. It is our choice with which type of thread we would like to be connected.

Thanks for smiling. Enjoy the sunset!

References:

(1) How Melody and Harmony evokes emotion, https://medium.com/@athilk25/the-power-of-melody-and-harmony-how-music-evokes-emotion-82693f4b7bf3 | https://www.masterclass.com/articles/music-101-what-is-melody#7zAvYMrQjd5ql5XMcURZu6

(2) The Oldest Known Melody, https://youtu.be/QpxN2VXPMLc

(3) The Psychology of music: how melodies, rhythms and lyrics impact our emotions, https://medium.com/@pinnacleinsights369/the-psychology-of-music-how-melodies-rhythms-and-lyrics-impact-our-emotions-a4f3c5877d21 | https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20130418-why-does-music-make-us-feel-good

(4) Cognitive Processing in Music and Language, https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0073372 | https://neuro-class.com/la-musica-en-el-cerebro-cuando-el-cerebro-escucha/ | https://hipertextual.com/2020/02/asi-distingue-cerebro-musica-y-habla

(5) Song Writing Prompts, https://robinpiree.com/blog/songwriting-prompts | https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/science-choice/201906/6-ways-music-affects-your-emotions

(6) Happy hormones, https://www.nationalgeographic.com/premium/article/happy-hormones-dopamine-serotnin-endorphins-natural

(7) How Music affects us emotionally, https://www.psychologytoday.com/intl/blog/science-of-choice/202309/how-music-affects-us-emotionally

(8) Happy songs, https://theconversation.com/happy-songs-these-are-the-musical-elements-that-make-us-feel-good-201342

(9) How does music help us feel, https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/your-musical-self/202103/how-does-music-help-us-feel

(10)The 8 components of musical emotion, https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/science-choice/202106/the-8-components-musical-emotion

#oriental sunset #why do melodies bring us out our feelings #music and health #the music box #SoundCloud

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