SOLANGE KNOWLES, omg the return of

well this was disappointing

it's not bad but dev hynes is such a rudimentary songwriter - this applies to the sky ferreira song too (which i like quite a bit) but he just...doesn't use very many notes? so many lines are just...the singer starts on a note and then just...hangs there on the same note droning on? with an awkward tempo that makes it all sound a bit eye test?

That's a bit of a Geir objection dude. (NB, not actually heard this).

(I fully believe he's a rudimentary songwriter though)

no it's not, i'm saying there's something very unsatisfying about the melodies he writes - like they're on the verge of being really hooky and then they just stop because he is a terrible songwriter

I cannot stop playing this song. Single of the year for me.

I've been caning this since yesterday but I agree with lex that it feels a bit underwritten - I'll be surprised if I'm still caning it in a week. Anyway, I think the bit I really love is around 2:53 in the vid when the vaguely Air France-y backing comes whooshing back in. <3 Solange's dancing too obviously.

not sure what I think of this (yet) but it doesn't scan as particularly 80s in the 00s-revivalist sense. The closest major 80s point of comparison I could come up with was Toto's "Africa"? But more uptempo?

At first blush the vocals and the music sound like they were written separately (and I get lex's point about the slightly leaden melodies) but this could still grow on me substantially.

The backing track on this is fantastic and if it were to appear on the Balearic revival thread it would not be out of place at all.

no it's not, i'm saying there's something very unsatisfying about the melodies he writes - like they're on the verge of being really hooky and then they just stop because he is a terrible songwriter

Having now listened to it I get where you're coming from on this. It's not that he doesn't use enough notes (which really would be a Geirish objection) it's that he doesn't have any understanding of how rhythm works within a melody, it's all fourth-notes, it doesn't fit what should be the meter of what she's singing. It's very Primary School Recorder Lesson Three, like something a child would write.

Unsurprising because he's from a generation of Brit indie songwriters who don't really 'get' how rhythm and melody work together.

the song is pretty simple... it's essentially one chorus and one verse repeated, and the bridge is just the chorus but elongated a bit. when i first heard it i thought it was weird because she sings the chorus first but it doesn't even sound like a chorus at first blush, it kinda threw me for a loop. but i think there's some strong, memorable melodies there and i like the idea of pretty basic songwriting being laid over this beat that has a lot of things going on. i think it really works, and solange has some great vocal runs in the final chorus.

Think how great some actually competent songwriting would sound over the top of that beat then!

The backing track on this is fantastic and if it were to appear on the Balearic revival thread it would not be out of place at all.

yeh i like this as much for the promise of a really dope extended edit as for the song itself

the beat sounds like terje's on the beach beat mixed with something by the revenge w/added idm pads

lex/madd dc otm. the child like simplicity of the melody isn't really working for me, also those dave dirty projector dude backing vocals are horrible

was thinking earlier this would make a good Talabot remix

also those dave dirty projector dude backing vocals are horrible

― Crackle Box, Wednesday, October 3, 2012 8:40 AM (2 minutes ago) Bookmark

huh

Think how great some actually competent songwriting would sound over the top of that beat then!

― Matt DC, Wednesday, October 3, 2012 8:28 AM (15 minutes ago) Bookmark

idk i think this is a great song. not as good as "everything is embarrassing" but pretty damn good

the backing isn't interesting enough to make up for the shitty melody. idk it's all alrightish, might grow on me, but just go back to solange's last album - every song in the first half is so much better than this

really "everything is embarrassing" suffers from a lot of the same problems, but there's something about how sparse the arrangement and especially sky f's delivery that makes it more beguiling

anyway people on twitter say that they were just swept away by the video (which i haven't seen) and it sounds way underwritten on its own

listen from 3 mins, the backing vox go all "indie" on the ol melisma

the video is pretty beautiful altho i maintain that solange looks utterly ridiculous and like she has no idea what to do on camera for most of the time

"everything is embarrassing" holds together better as a song and has two pretty distinct (and better) melodic parts

Hmmmm I don't mind Dev's writing style in theory, I'd agree that his melodies tend toward the straight 4s with limited range. Like he wrote them on a tiny keyboard or something. Closest reference for this Solange song, to my ears, is that Blood Orange "Champagne Coast" song ("Come into my bedroom, come into my bedroom...") (and is ultimately a better song) but I still I like this song a lot

the video is pretty beautiful altho i maintain that solange looks utterly ridiculous and like she has no idea what to do on camera for most of the time

― lil dirk (J0rdan S.), Wednesday, 3 October 2012 10:03 (1 hour ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

it's like they synced clips of her dancing to entirely different parts of the song
(apart from when she does the step-step-shuffle bit, which is nice)

Surely that is fully intentional though?

i think she looks decent, dances cool, the video is great, the song is maybe a little thin but it has grown on me a lot

pop as will-this-do tickbox exercise there

oh maybs yeah (xp). it isn't really a criticism!, it is charming.

I don't get what the issue is with Dev Hynes' songwriting. I also don't really see that many 80s elements other than the synth pad perhaps. The Sky Ferreira single is totally 80s though, in the best possible way.

pop as will-this-do tickbox exercise there

― lex pretend, Wednesday, October 3, 2012 10:59 AM (58 minutes ago) Bookmark

oh please, this applies no more or less to solange's entire career

it was more about max's description! which did not sound like it stacked up to a song that's particularly noteworthy.

I don't get what the issue is with Dev Hynes' songwriting

oh it's not as if matt and others actually pinpointed it musically, not sure what else you would like

No, I guess I mean 'I don't get it' in the sense that I'm not identifying the alleged shortcomings in the songs myself. Sure, the melodies are simple, but so are most melodies in pop music, so that's not really a valid criticism, imo. Although, apart from this and "Everything Is Embarrassing" I've only heard a couple of tracks by Hynes.

Is less the melody and more the vocal rhythms or lack of them, they sound incredibly ponderous.

yeah it's kinda meant to be suggestive of this bleary, droning, numbed torpid mumblecore inarticulacy indicating longing and heartache beyond words or whatever. simple is real cos of ~how hard it is to feel things~, to be decisive and put a fine point on it is too painful if not even by implication dishonest. the whole thing's of a piece, you got the washed out instagrammed visuals, the 80s comfort blanket for the emotional foetal position... blah blah the familiar prepack set of lies agreed upon

it's all v boring

i get the objection, it's prob valid depending on your priorities, this is very evidently a song to ~vibe out~ to not a song with a vocal melody that's designed to grab you and not let go. if all the songs are like this than yeah it would be a problem.

the backing track is an absolute monster tho--crank that shit on speakers, it's got so much thump.

I'd just like to point out that the melody has been stuck in my head for the last hour or so and I'm in no rush to extinguish it.

this song is okay? I don't feel very strongly one way or the other about it?

the video is ridiculous though, whoever edited it basically makes Solange look like she has no conception of rhythm half the time

I love the song. To me, the simplicity of the vocal phrasing acts as a wonderful counterpoint to the propulsiveness of the beat. If the writer of the song only ever wrote songs with simplistic vocal phrasing, I would understand the criticism, but in this case it sounds like a deliberate device. The vocal (and keyboard) phrasing doesn't need to be complicated because there's so much movement in the beat.

The first time I watched the video, I thought some of the editing was off, but I've grown to like it. I think there's some kind of juxtaposition of calm/stillness with kinetic/frenetic energy. Again, I think it's deliberate.

yeah, the verse is kinda unremarkable, but i like the chorus a lot. reminds me of 'like a prayer'

yeah it's kinda meant to be suggestive of this bleary, droning, numbed torpid mumblecore inarticulacy indicating longing and heartache beyond words or whatever. simple is real cos of ~how hard it is to feel things~, to be decisive and put a fine point on it is too painful if not even by implication dishonest. the whole thing's of a piece, you got the washed out instagrammed visuals, the 80s comfort blanket for the emotional foetal position... blah blah the familiar prepack set of lies agreed upon

this is actually a pretty accurate description of what I love about this song.

When I listened to this I didn't think 80s so much as Madonna specifically (for the vocal line, not necessarily anything else), but probably 80s Madonna. That could be because Madonna is the only pop singer I've heard. Anyway, I find it boring.

(I can't listen again right now to check if the Madonna comparison still makes any sense to me.)

There are only two minor things I don't like about this and they have nothing to do with the melody. One of them is a slight misstep in the harmony of the chorus (or is it the verse?) and the other one is I could use a break from the little squeal of the beat -even though I like it it tends to slightly grate towards the end. BTW, does anyone else hears a bit of Kleerup in this song?

Great track, but not feeling the video.

Leaving aside the colonial stuff, I guess 1950s style is the thing at the moment?

not sure what you mean really, but the men in the video are sapeurs.

Oh, OK...

Now more confused.

she's interviewed about it here: http://www.thefader.com/2012/10/02/interview-solange/

song is good but video is better imo. i like her really awkward dancing and will pretend that it is somewhat intentional.

yeah it's kinda meant to be suggestive of this bleary, droning, numbed torpid mumblecore inarticulacy indicating longing and heartache beyond words or whatever. simple is real cos of ~how hard it is to feel things~, to be decisive and put a fine point on it is too painful if not even by implication dishonest. the whole thing's of a piece, you got the washed out instagrammed visuals, the 80s comfort blanket for the emotional foetal position... blah blah the familiar prepack set of lies agreed upon

it's all v boring

― r|t|c, Wednesday, October 3, 2012 1:11 PM (9 hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

::throws flowers on the foot of the stage::