shut up and listen

• 6/8 time
• mostly instrumental
• single chord, then change to 3 chord pattern
• single line repeated X 4 “shake me, shake me, skyscraper” appears in the second half
• picked acoustic, strings join, then bass, piano and tinkling chimes
• drums enter, starts with thumping floor tom (or kik hit with a beater)
• returns to acoustic picking, piano melody line, woodwind for outro
• background ambience or voices, atmos …

KEY IDEAS to plunder

1. monotone one chord – minimalist tricking of giving the eventual change more impact
2. low baritone vox

• chorus is a single line repeated 4 times (with an internal repeat) “with all the fun that we have, we have come far”
• ch – v1 – ch – v2 – bridge/outro
• outro features dirty strummed/palm muted elect guit chord progression, overlayed with loop gradually slowing
• vox doubling includes distant reverb version
• punchy drums again, dropping in and out again
• verse beat breaks up the steady thump of the choruses
• bridge/outro vox distant and spacey (space it was recorded in)

KEY IDEAS to plunder

1. slowing loop countering the beat
2. a single line repeated with an internal repeat. “with all the fun that we have, we have come far”

• intro – entirely unlike the rest of the song – sets the ‘tone’ (also reappears faintly in outro)
• vox melody on the beat “i’ve had my frustrations about’
•                                          1    2     3    4    5    6    7    8
• vox doubled
• Key F
• I – V – VIm – IV verse, IV – VIm – I – IIIm chorus
• v1 ch v2 ch bridge ch
• oscillating texture in back ground of intro, and first chord progression – linking the intro and song
• whispered sample edit loop (not as integral to the song as I would like)
• punchy thumping drum beat (verses only – chorus features less focused loop)
• bridge vocal back in the mix

KEY IDEAS to plunder

1. intro + oscillating texture
2. vox melody on the beat
3. I – V – VIm – IV verse, IV – VIm – I – IIIm chorus

• baritone vocals
• the intros to ‘Only if You Run’ and ‘On the Esplanade’ – apparently “imprecise and basically extraneous” — www.prefixmag.com/reviews/julian-plenti/julian-plenti-isskyscraper
• verse chorus structures but retain interest — somehow …
• solo album that still rocks like a band (in places)