zygoticmynci wrote:Although I have posted on this forum before, I am still more or less new, so I will officially say hello.
Some of you have mentioned a 'tango rhythm' that Joanna employs in HOOM. I think you're referring to the habanera rhythm, which originated in Cuba. I think it's unfair to say that she is becoming repetitive, as there are only two obvious uses of it on the album, i.e. Ribbon Bows and Does Not Suffice. Even so, they still sound vastly different.
As for songs using the same chords, well that's just how limiting the western system is, unless you want to get weird and abstract. Does Not Suffice is a reprise of In California anyway, so that doesn't really count. Pop music has been using the same chords for like 50+ years.
It's difficult to pick a favourite album, as all three are very different, but it would have to be HOOM. I love that it has a pop sensibility, but still has the breadth and complexity of Ys. Although many people dislike the lack of cohesion, I absolutely love that quality to it. It's like a treasure trove, which you can just dip into.
I took issue with the chords between Baby Birch and In California because they use the same chord progression - not just the same four chords, but the same set of chords in the same key in the same order lined up in the same sort of phrasing. You could sing the lyrics for one over the other and it would work, kind of like how Tik Tok and California Girls are the exact same song. But that was really the only instance of that happening.
The tango rhythm is in a number of songs on HOOM - Easy, Have One On Me, In California, Jackrabbits, Go Long (it's a slightly truncated version with the last macrobeat absent), Soft As Chalk, Ribbon Bows, and Does Not Suffice (it's possible it is in Kingfisher and Autumn as well though I haven't listened to either much). It's also found in Emily, Monkey and Bear, Only Skin, En Gallop, Colleen, Book of Right-on, Clam Crab Cockle Cowrie, and Flying a Kite. That's why it seems overused.