Sea Song (reprise)
Here is the song I did to-day. I wrote it mostly on the piano at Marisa's house in Maine. It is a reprise for a song I havn't really written yet. I think the only thing that will make it a reprise will be the words of the last chorus ("I think you're gonna...")
6 comments:
Chet's music often (and this is seperate from the "sound" as in recording style) sounds as though it were written about an actual um emotional event. With very specific but completely obscure references to incidents with family or friends - like "absent in your brother's letter..." or "Y R U N N Y C?".
And they sound as though they are written as a communication to one specific person, and I sometimes think they sound like a letter. Like making up after a fight letter "I'm the trouble-maker now", or tough love sometimes - like in today's song. But like a clearly thought-through and carefully edited letter that was given a lot of thought and is pretty still.
Then these very deliberate ideas are directly countered by silly and obvious lines like "dying/buying" that point to the surface, the absurdity of words, how they have a function independent of communication, an unreal game life.
They also sound a lot like movie soundtracks, and maybe that's cause I always steal them for that, but it's something about the allusions to events, to plot, but ultimate de-resolution into pure atmosphere and hypnotainment. So meaning becomes aestheticized, turned into pure sensual experience of sound - i.e. the subtly mind-blowing gtr solo build-up to the synth crescendo in "URAQT."
Some of them can be a little intimidating at first because they sound weighty or overly-emotional and therefore burdensome (not to me, but then I'm his brother so it's different) - this in both word and melody. These are deceptively complicated songs with a lot of structure. So usually by halfway through the song the initial word-based complication is turned into some kind of catchy sound or ambiguous, repetitive and addictive phrase i.e. "I've got too many notes to simplify myself" resolves to "even on weeknights/I see by sodium lights." So what I'm saying is that the complexity and heaviness is essential because it is dispelled by the music, this is the process and it is this, more than the catchy melodies, that makes his music pop.
Chet's music here
thanx for putting a link to chesters page up...i talked to him earlier and i meant to put it up...i think its going in the permanant links section..also...chester...its spelled "marisa"...one "s" dude....sorry i cant say more than that....but seriously...you get a pretty good sound in maine huh?
It's always interesting for me to hear people analyze lyrics since I can't do that. I think I listen to songs like the words are in French and I don't know French that well.
I'm really interested with your orchestration and the virtual space you've created with your pan settings & reverb. Also the background vocals + whatever those sustained notes are between quiet and loud sections is well blended.
I like the percussion and the rhythmic contrast between the two quiet sections. Of course also that loud slammin shit in the (mostly) right channel along with the siren-like/sine sound that fades in and out near the end. Some of the recording style reminds me a bit of that Music Tapes song - "Death to Parents". Your recontextualizing of melodic ideas was executed REALLY well, though. (Music Tapes was never good at that).
This sounds like praise all around, but these are the things I noticed if that helps. Make more and longer.
Make a happy to be hardcore song.
I agree with what I think Farley (eff gwazdor) said. When I first listen to a lot of Chester's music, Sea Song included, it first feels very complicated (not negatively so), but after a number of listens seems to become simpler and more beautiful. The complicated to simple feeling might be a common brain/song thing, but it seems more noticable for me with Chet's music.
I also think the "I think you're gonna..." part is really bad ass and the lyrics are really chilling for some reason.
I really like it.
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