Has anyone else been closely listening to Divers with good headphones and good vibes and just geeking out at the incredible mix on this album? The attention to detail that's gone into putting this together is just phenomenal, it's like this three-dimensional, completely immersive, fully realised universe, full of contrasts and hidden meanings. I think it was the marxophone on Leaving the City that really drew my attention to it- so amazing.
Anyhow, listening with mindfulness, full attention and just being present to each and every moment in the songs has been eye-opening; I feel like a lot of the instrumental embellishments themselves are participating in a sort of subtextual interaction with the lyrics of each song. Sort of like the orchestral parts in Ys, but across the entirety of each element in the record, in diverse ways.. here are some examples:
harmonic landscapes- on all of the songs, perhaps most noticeably Goose Eggs and Divers, it seems like each change from chord to chord provides a lot of context for what's being said, adding a different 'colour' to the lyrics- each line of the 'chorus' section in Goose Eggs gain so much resonance from what's happening around it musically- like 'and I had better find my way/ to being the kind of friend you seemed to need in me/ at last, at least', goes from wistful optimism, to crestfallenness, to utter urgency in a matter of moments, and don't even get me started on the 'I dream it every night-' part of Divers..
compositional voices & counterpoint- the dynamics between the bass and treble components of the piano parts in Sapokanikan, Waltz and Time are just incredible- in Sapokanikan it feels like an interplay between this very imposing sort of bass presence, as the higher part runs about across time. And then the two merge in 'do you love me? will you remember?'- I think it's interesting that the melody from that part finds itself transposed to a ghostly celestia later on, in 'above them, parades..', as the higher piano part offers some rare block chords (which I've interpreted to express quiet outrage, but that might just be me). And then the piano in 'I had a dream..' section of Waltz, so perfect, it feels like a story in itself. Across all of the songs, the bass and treble parts tend to unify and integrate over the most universal messages (eg. most of the things I say, 'love is not a symptom of time; time is just a symptom of love').
falling bass lines- Leaving the City and A Pin-Light Bent each feature a similar descending bass line, taking three steps down- I think it serves a very specific purpose in both. In A Pin-Light Bent I sort of imagine myself falling and reaching the ground with each descent- this fits well with each line of attending lyric, too : 'my life comes and goes'; then it changes completely in 'but the sky', and it still feels like falling, but from a slow motion, first-person perspective (if that makes any sense). In Leaving the City it feels like a rallying against what one is allowed in line with the messages of that song.
polyrhythms- to me these serve to convey some sense of discord across Divers- in Leaving the City, The Things I Say, possibly the title track and of course Time. Significantly, the joyful, life-affirming title track welcomes the polyrhythmic crescendo, embracing it in an epic declaration- ascending, willing the eternal return.
droning synths or mellotrons- these occur in a few of the songs, most notably Same Old Man- I'd be curious to hear your thoughts on what they represent.
This post was much longer than intended, I could keep writing about this album indefinitely, it's my favourite of all time. Does anybody have any favourite moments in the mix, or thoughts on the instrumental voices in the songs? To me it feels like it's all serving a communicative purpose in some way, and I'd be very interested to see what others have picked up on- music can be so subjective, and I'm still joyfully noticing new details each time.