analysis | After The Show

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DF6PQFL8Hfo

“Windstorm,” a song on School of Seven Bells’ sophomore album, is one of the most unique-sounding songs in my iTunes library.

The distorted melody that begins the song announces immediately that this song is different — it’s unrecognizable and hard to tell if a machine, guitar on overdrive, or human voice is producing this hook.

The vocals initially sound like they’re not in English but in some other more ethereal and musical language.

Entering the song unexpectedly in the first verse (0:35), the drums are heavy on the snare and sound like they could be played on a drum machine.

The chorus’s lyrical repetition and sparse instrumentation contributes to the song’s ethereal, chant-like feeling.

Sonically, the zenith of the song for me is at 2:35, when two separate vocal arrangements overlap (chorus + verse) creating a musical round that evokes feelings of prayer and meditation.

Live version of “Windstorm” below:

Last week, After The Show published a post called “Music > Cereal,“ pointing out the discrepancy between a box of cereal costing the same price as an entire album of music.

Magic Pie Music then posted a response, called “Music < Cereal: Why $5 for a digital album is too much.”

This response raised many good points, but I think the biggest problem with bands giving away their music for free (or very little) creates a barrier to entry — such a model benefits already-established artists and big name artists, but new bands and indie bands would face quite a struggle if their main source of income was merchandise and concert tickets alone. How would they make enough money to be able to tour (and sell this merchandise and these tickets) without first making money by selling their music online?

You can read that post as well as follow-up comments here. Feel free to contribute to the discussion by leaving a comment.

Tag: analysis

School of Seven Bells: “Windstorm” Analysis

Music vs. Cereal (Part 2)