The 1975 - Notes on a Conditional Form (May 22, 2020) Album • Page 54

Can you expand on this. Again - I don’t make music but I’d genuinely like to know from a sonic perspective how it’s more complicated than it seems to the ear of a fan and not musician.

 

I'm not in the hate-camp here, but really?

 

“Safe” is a very strange word to use when describing any piece of music to someone who is not familiar with anything else a band or artist has done because it requires the context of what else said band/artist has done.

With the case of The 1975 here, I think @sophos34 hit the nail on the head when they said that She’s American is the “safest” song they’ve released because it really does sound like a direct continuation of their sound from the S/T. I’m don’t get that feeling from any other song from the band.

Love Me was tossed out as an example and that definitely was not a safe song, especially for a lead single. That song is very weird and oddly aggressive in that the band really indulges themselves in that jagged riff and the very blatant, tongue-in-cheek lyrics. I remember when that was released that people who loved the band prior were really weird out by that song. Had they released She’s American as the lead single, that would have been so obvious and much more in line with what people were expecting at the time of the rollout for ILIWYS.

I’ll echo again that “safe” is not really synonymous with “accessible.” Do I think Too Time is accessible? I do, but I find it accessible in the same sense as I find Love Me to be accessible. They are both weird songs for alt pop, or whatever you want to call the band’s sound, but they are very catchy with toe-tap beats. However, they are both deceptively complex and have a lot of layers to them, which is why, though they are accessible, I would not call them “safe.” Reason why is because, again, who are we describing any of their songs as “safe” to? Each other? I think we are all fairly well aware of when the band is doing something that could perhaps be perceived as “safe” to ourselves, but, to those unfamiliar with the band, I think it’s a little misguided to describe most of their songs as “safe.”

I’m not spending my time writing this response to target anyone specifically. I actually think it’s an interesting discussion. If there is something I think we all can agree upon it’s that very rarely does this band operate with the idea of playing it “safe” in mind. Quite the contrary. They are one of the boldest musical acts in the alternative and pop scenes. I think Love Me and Too Time are both shining examples of their boldness.

 

If we're discussing it a year later... Seems pretty dumb to call it safe lol

 

@socklord, I 100% agree and thank you for taking the time to write all that out.

I feel in context of this thread, talking to other fans of the band, my question was still valid even if worded incorrectly. It's not like I'm asking the wider public, I'm asking the small subsection of this website's userbase who know what the band is (or at least what we believe the band is) and I think you've touched on that point really well.

I totally agree with your closing paragraph though. The band definitely do not operate in that realm of 'safe' in regards to their catalogue of work.

 

I still personally want to know the sonic complexities of the song so I understand better lol

 

You ever actually sit down, listen to it with good headphones/monitors/speakers, and pay attention to all the detailed layers the song contains? Nothing about it needs to be difficult to play or understand for it to be complex. It's a very busy song, which makes it fascinating to listen to as I've been able to find more and more things to appreciate about it with every listen.

 

I mean that’s fair - I just legitimately meant from a musicians point of view...I guess it goes back to language much like the last portion of the convo - layered, multi faceted, degree of difficulty, complex, busy...it’s a lot of qualifiers that I think we all interpret somewhat differently. When I think complex I always think “degree of difficulty to craft or perform” and not so much how busy or layered a track sounds. To the same degree, I think there are a number of songs on that record that fit those descriptions (with multiple listens with great audio) while I can’t be super confident I’d still lean towards putting that particular song towards the middle or bottom middle of the pack. If that makes any sense...

 

Well, as a musician (specifically a drummer), I do find a lot of this band's music difficult to perform. I have to imagine it was incredibly difficult to craft all these songs too. I mean, we can take Too Time and I can tell you that that song must have been meticulously put together (though I'm sure all their music is too) with the myriad of different layers to the song. So we can take what you said about how you tend to believe that something "complex" is something that is "difficult to craft or perform" and I think we can still apply your sense of the word "complex" to Too Time, or really much of this band's music. I encourage you to release your mind a little bit though and not get too bogged down with the idea that something complex must be "difficult to craft or perform," as I think it can come across as a little misguided.

While we're on the topic of complexity and difficulty to craft/perform, I will say that George is a phenomenal drummer. His grooves are deceptively difficult to play due to where he places the emphasis on certain notes, particularly on the hi-hats. Not to mention that he then is tasked with usually adding drums/percussion on top of predominately electronic/synth-based songs when they play live. It boggles my mind all the time. For the most part, I think he has an incredible taste when it comes to his style and he's got a knack for usually playing towards the song when they perform live. Rarely do I ever feel like he's doing too much.

 

Hmm good stuff

 

It’s extremely difficult as a song writer to craft a song with a minimal chord progression, but make sections feel unique based off of melody, tonality, rhythm, and harmonization. For a master class in this, you don’t really need to look much further than tootime.

The song largely revolves around two chords, a V chord that fall to a IV chord (listen to Ross’ bass line). There are what I like to call “implied chords” that are there but without the support of the bass (if you consider this, it becomes vi-V iii-IV etc, listen to the keys part in the verse). The chord progression never falls to the I chord aka the tonic aka the root(except once sorta more on that in a second) so the song carries a weightless floating feeling throughout the song.

One of the main differences besides vocal melody between the verse and chorus is the addition of the single note piano part that is added into the chorus (it’s pretty easy to spot this one). It really hammers down that feeling of floating (and maybe even longing for resolution) a step further than the verse. One reason imo is the rhythm is highly syncopated focusing a lot of the emphasis on parts of the beat that are not the downbeat. The biggest reason however is that the note being played is the dominant aka the V. The key function of the dominant is to resolve to the I. There’s really nothing in music our ear wants more than to hear that resolution. Of course, they don’t and we’re left floating as much as ever.

Seems like a tease, but something they really nailed hear is the dichotomy between this “floating” feeling and feeling “grounded”. That don’t give it to us harmonically, but George’s drum pattern does. The kick is playing 4 on the floor (aka the down beat of each beat). Sometimes in pop, this is the lowest common denominator, but again, when you pair it with the chords being played it’s a nice balance. It’s worth mentioning his pattern is far from plain. The cross stick snare sound is creates a calypso groove and he’s got some nice single upbeat hi hat bits through the song. There are some other flourishes here and there that could be elaborated on further.

My favorite section is the instrumental bridge after the second half chorus (btw cutting that second chorus in half is a pretty ballsy move it’s the fucking chorus). This section is where the song is allowed to breathe. Percussion cuts out and is replaced rhythmically by an arpeggiated synth to keep things moving along. The chord progression is slightly modified and the rhythm of the chords change very slight (it’s now V-vi-IV with the last chord pushed an eighth note early). Not exactly having anything to do with composition, but this synth is a DX7 E Piano patch and one of my favorite sounds ever, fits great here and is a nice “vintage” sound on a very modern sounding track production wise (I think this band excels when they implement ideas that seem to conflict). It’s also here that we “sort of” get our one bit of resolution. Right before the bass slides back in, the final IV chord is an inversion putting the I in the bass of the keys part. It’s not as pronounced as a full on I chord, but in my opinion is the closest the song comes to resolving, albeit for about a second and a half. This instrumental bridge is really important giving us just enough “reprieve” to make it through the whole song.

Sorry to write a book. I think there’s even more to pick out and discuss, but I’m watching Veronica Mars with my wife and not able to listen to the song at the moment. There’s a lot to be said about his vocal melody and various production elements/sounds and tones on the track. All that said, it’s impressive and honestly a fucking great song, but I guess to each their own.

 

I hope it’s an episode you’ve seen already lol

 

I mean I think that suffices lol it’s just incredible to me that a pop/house song can be that involved...at least instrumentally. Amazing.

 

I know very little about music composition and @bodkins just took me to school when it's still fucking summer damn man

 

...but did they deliberately set out to do that doe ? Lol or was it a drake karaoke when they were experiencing cabin fever in the studio hmmmm

 

Yes of course they did. Honestly best I can tell, Matty and George are a couple of genius wizards. If you dissect their songs they are incredibly dense and rich with extraordinary compositions and arrangements. Again, I don’t find this song simple, but they have songs that would take me hours to fully analyze all the subtleties and theory behind it. It’s not like they just get LUCKY writing song after song that’s like that. They’re fucking great musicians and songwriters/producers it’s kinda easy to see.

 

No I know lol it’s just amazing like I said to think a level of genius exists like that

 

Wow Bodkins is a master. Thanks for putting it into words.

 

Merely a student. I just like dissecting song really lol, thank you though.

 

Analysis is very insightful and way deep, but I will say I still don't like the structure of breaking that chorus up. Without another hook it kinda falls flat for me. But that's not to say it isn't a well composed song

 

The last page and a bit of this thread > the two pages before it lol

 

Join us next week as @bodkins breaks down Love It If We Made It.

 

Has anyone made the "and the record begins with a song of rebellion" joke about the first track yet? If not, first.

 

I did ittttttttt you’re second though not bad

 

I'll take it!