Blog #5: Song Deconstruction

The Octopus Project as a band has a very unique style. They bring aspects of both classic acoustic music and mix it with new age electronica to create the perfect blend of old and new. They're widely known for there very uncommon use of the theremin (which can be heard starting at 3:10 in the second link above). The first song, Fuguefat, demonstrates excellent use of irregular timing (7/4 time signature). This song has a very loud intensity, while Upmann has a much softer and mellow feel to it. Although these songs have a very different feeling to them, they are quite similar in emotional architecture and organization. Both songs tend to build up in the intro and lead into a simple pattern that is heard throughout the song while other instruments layer and variate over it. The melody of Fuguefat is held together by the pattern played on the piano, while in Upmann it's a basic chord progression played on a guitar thats heard throughout. The overall groove of the songs is different. The first one has a very solid driving groove with upbeat drums. The second one has a looser feel with use of triplet rhythms and a mellow groove that flows through the song. The timbre of Fuguefat is more complex and hectic while Upmann's is smooth and simple. Both songs are very deep in layers of instruments, however the quality of the layers is different. The first one is more chaotic and the layers tend to drown themselves out so you can't tell all of them apart as well. The second song layers the instruments so that the lead is always heard above the rest, but the others are still clear and in their own space. Neither songs have lyrics, so instead they use instruments to play lead melodies and harmonies over other instruments or variate which instruments are prominently heard. The band also uses electronic aspects of music to create a very technical and quantized feel to the songs. In Fuguefat an electronic percussion pattern is heard in the intro with the piano arpeggio. This adds to setting the tempo of the whole song and giving a feeling of structure to the piano melody. I don't have a favorite of the two songs because they both appeal to me depending on the mood I'm in or what type of groove I want to listen to.