the vibrating air
of unknown lands, wading through
dense humidity
Lots of this album is in keys between two pitches, keys based on microtones. Prolly what contributes to the otherworldly atmosphere!
1. Hybrid
Esoteric dilapidated sculptures of swans guard the Aztec temple; and island centered in mosquito infested swamps. Thick heavy air shrouds secrets kept within. An undocumented tribe worships in the distance playing loose, booming drums made from the earth itself. Dense forest but open sky.
We’re set up with a drone in the key of between E and F. On guitar, slightly bend up from an E note, that’s the key! Crazy! A synth melody appears, plays mostly off the notes F, Eb, and D...the root, b7 and 6…suggesting a mixolydian or dorian scale, but since no third is ever played there’s no true quality of major or minor. Both mixolydian and dorian have a feeling of voyage or journey. The vagueness here is cool, so much mystery!
The synth melody rarely goes beyond that note range, mostly floats around among F, Eb, and D, sometimes goes to C or G. It plays like an Indiana raga. Some riffs towards the end lean into blues scale, briefly (C blues scale…not sure?)
Tribal drums come in that have a verbal quality to them, ancient vocalizations, “Ooga Aaga!”.
Between the Indian raga style melody and the microtonal key, Hybrid paints a land very foreign.
2. Distant Village
Lonely languid current swaying between wooden pagodas, rippling as each tear falls. Wooden beams leaning out of the water splintered yet dull with time. Rounded wind worn architecture silently whispers with the breeze. A fisherman with a straw hat and simple pole. Nocturnal insects choir on the perimeter.
More clearly than previously, Distant village is in Eb minor pentatonic Swirling 4ths that fade into the distance. The slight phaser/chorus that fades into the background create a feeling of age, of a far away civilization of time past, and the pentatonic 4th harmonies suggest an Asian culture, calling on their traditional music styles.
3. Mimosa
Crescent bubbling of an otherwise still layered sunrise. A vessel with 8 eyes, waiting patiently.
An otherworldly key pitched between B and C. Melody in marimba plays with notes B, F# and F. Ungrounded key, wonky tritone melody, marimba with lots of overtones making it hard to pin down a definitive pitch.
Synth pads come in seem to be in key of between B and C Aeolian.
There’s a swirling of the drink in the glass and carbonation around 1:40. The carbonation synths are major arpeggios, I think major I chords! A pad shines by accentuating a major 9th note.
At 2:34 the mood changes to creepy harmonic minor tension in the piano melody, sometimes ending on the dramatic minor 9th note.
The opening marimba returns too. Totally perplexed with this one, very strange vibes. Is it a tropical glass? The funky marimba symbolizing the orange origins of the fruit…the harmonic minor eeriness symbolizing a depressive tipsy thought filled mind?
4. Pond Life
A pond with bright fish. Insects skipping on the surface of the pond. Stagnant, murky, scummy unbothered liminal puddle dotted anonymously in the world. Perspective from being partially submerged and being eye level with the water line; seeing both above and under the surface at once
Immediately we hear:
-reeling tape like sound in the back
-background static
-bird calls
-soaring mournful dove (?) calls
-cicadas
-chirping crickets
I’m assuming these nature sounds are all man-made, and that this song is not a field recording. Unbelievable.
Somehow, Ab major pentatonic works well over this?
5. Ocean Motion
The humming, shimmering untamed waters of the sea blurring vertically with overcast storm telling skies. Undulating freely.
In the key of “Sea” minor ha ha ha, nice pun Michael Brook.
Steady pulse of a metronome feels like a buoy, but also sets up a flowing rhythm. Notice the churning rhythm of the synthesizer pad chords. I think they accent the quarter note.
A lot of voicings end in Eb. (the major 3rd of the key). Maybe creating a sense of melancholy hope? Eb, the major note, ringing through the seas of minor.
The high piano notes meld ripple into the ocean waves. At times there are sustained suspended chords, emphasizing notes D and G, the 9th and the 5th. The 5th helps stabilize the harmony, the 9th is pure flavor, but no 3rd or 7th to suggest a chord quality.
6. Midday
Death’s insistent aging made light of by daily mundanities, like a broad July sky over asphalt.
Right off the bat, the clock tik toks setting up a feeling of dragging time.
Hearing notes like Bb, C, Eb, F, Ab. Tonality settled between Bb and B. Not hearing any 3rds (Db or D). So it’s not major or minor.
Wiggly side bass is humorous.
Midday heat summer frogs in the background, and synths, create a picture of vast stretching humidity.
Synthesizer towards the ending (4:35 and on) is like the yawning/screaming/wailing of the mind trying to break out of a mundane, lightly torturous and inconsequential day. An office worker yelling in their head, imprisoned and waiting clock out.
7. Earth Floor
Twisted fossils…deep remains….holy minerals…inconsequential stuff…rotting death…rotting past below…gives way for new life, for a new change at existence.
Very weird. Key of between D and Eb minor. Tons of half step harmonies here between b9 and natural 9, and between natural 9 and b3. Also between natural 4 and #4, and #4 and 5.
The tribal drum from the beginning of the album comes back, lower pitched now. Heavier.
Faint acoustic guitar and piano in the background!
8. Vacant
The Mojave Desert bending with heat. Each grain of sand a boiling stone. Sporadic scampering of nondescript creatures. Link a budd song to this SUBTLE RESOLVE, prolly the only track that actually resolves?
Melody plays with C Lydian notes, C, G, F#, and E. Lots of play between F# and G. Sometimes B! Similar melodic ideas as the first song, Indian raga feel.
Spring peepers are in the background, the soaring bird calls. Lotsa microtones in bent notes (F# to G).
Guitar drone in far background playing C note and the open B string.
Possibly some screeching echoed background notes made by using a guitar slide off the fret board!
And the humid sighs drift into the further unknown, putting an end to The Pearl's companion album.
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