10 ‘War’ – At War With Walls And Mazes (2008) – Son Lux

  • vox and piano beginning
  • no drums in the entire track
  • dbl and triple vox, hard panned – out of time with each other slightly
  • pinging sound in background
  • piano solo
  • jittering strings enter, panning rapidly – serves as rhythm
  • distorted crackle enters, panning rapidly
  • vox switches from tripled to solo, up close, back to distant triple
  • ending is big swell of distorted chord

KEY IDEAS to plunder

  1. jittering strings enter, panning rapidly – serves as rhythm, instead of perc
  2. dbl and triple vox, hard panned – out of time with each other slightly

09 ‘Stand’ – At War With Walls And Mazes (2008) – Son Lux

  • same lyric/melody repeated
  • strange rhythm – starts 3/4, 4/4 drums join …
  • synth chords (distorted) and vox
  • operatic vox – typically lead inst as background harmony
  • piano arpeggios and vox
  • big drum loop ending

KEY IDEAS to plunder

  1. poly rhythms – 3/4 against 4/4
  2. operatic vox – typically lead inst as background harmony

08 ‘Wither’ – At War With Walls And Mazes (2008) – Son Lux

  • starts with synth bass
  • occasional kik/hat stabs
  • rattling effected snare roll builds
  • full drums kick in
  • snr rattle mirrored by tremelo effect on synth chords
  • busy percussion and synth bass contrasts with slow, plodding melody
  • mid section: drum machine slows as a bridge into final section
  • processed vox finishes the track

KEY IDEAS to plunder

  1. rattling effected snare roll mirrored by tremelo effect on synth chords
  2. drum machine slows as a bridge into final section

07 ‘Tell’ – At War With Walls And Mazes (2008) – Son Lux

  • no drums
  • lonely vox (EQ effect)
  • increasing distortion
  • vox doubled with piano
  • slide gtr?

KEY IDEAS to plunder

  1. lonely vox (EQ effect)
  2. distortion sliding in and out – sounds like speaker distortion …

06 ‘Raise’ – At War With Walls And Mazes (2008) – Son Lux

  • long track
  • complex arrangement of sections
  • same vocal line repeated over the changing instrumental sections
  • section 1: mournful horns and vox
  • section 2: rumbling synth bass joins
    and cymbal-less drums
  • section 3: bass and drums drops out, strings join, snr solo
  • section 4: bass and drums rejoin
  • section 5: vox (distorted) solo, some strings
    distorted bass gtr line joins, drums and distorted keys join
  • section 6: piano & vox only (distant remnants of prev inst)

KEY IDEAS to plunder

  1. same vocal line repeated over the changing instrumental sections
  2. cymbal-less drums
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