One song I’ve been loving at the moment is It’s your own body and mind by Sufjan Stevens from the album a beginners mind. It conveys a really balanced feeling of melancholy and inspiration at the same time. I really like how it starts with just his poetic lyrics and a simple strumming guitar then once the chorus hits the rest of the instruments come in all at once. This creates a building anticipation for the listener. Another reason I love this song is because it has a less is more mentality when it comes to it’s instrument part. This gives room for the lyrics to be more prominent, and allows the listeners imagination to play and interpret Sufjan’s often strange lyrics.
For the song I hate I’m choosing out of the woods by Taylor swift, It’s melody and many of its lyrics are extremely predictable. If I just saw the title of this song without ever hearing it, I could probably guess that it would sound exactly like it did. This is to be expected with a lot of pop music, but there’s something about Taylor Swift that especially rubs me the wrong way. It might be that her music reminds me of a disney princess soundtrack. There’s virtually nothing in this song for me to cling to and enjoy, the lyrics are one thing with the intense repetition, but I can’t even get behind the instrumental part either. The instruments don’t even sound like they were recorded, but more like they are digitally manufactured.
When considering Sufjan Stevens song in more technical terms and if that would change how I perceive it, I do not think it would change my opinion of the song. that being said I cannot read music so it’s difficult to say. I do believe the production plays a large part to how I experience and enjoy his song. It’s audio is very clear but not so precise and clean that it loses its relatability.
With Taylor Swift song I think the production is definitely a large part of what is bothering me. Before this class I wouldn’t have thought of production being so prevalent in how the sound is delivered to a listener, now after learning of the subtleties and differences even a recording space can make on the finished product, I am very aware of those differences. And in Taylor Swift song out of the Woods case it sounded over edited and auto tuned, this loses me because I can’t connect with the instruments anymore it and it feels soulless.