November 25, 2024

Sufjan Stevens - Chicago

 

 

Sufjan Stevens - Chicago

Stevens @ asthmatic kitty records 

Stevens @ spotify

Stevens @ discogs.com 


|| D maj           |  A-                     |  C maj                                 |   G maj                              ||

 

Intro riff  left guitar:

 

E                                                                             3                            

B                                   3                                 1         1         1                   

G                            2          2                 0   2                  2                 

D        0    2    4                                                                                                                        

A

E

 

 

E                              7

B                         8        8        8                        8

G            7     9                 9                        7          7

D                                                     7    9                    9

A

E

 

 

Intro right guitar chord voicings:

 

E       10               8             8          7

B       10              10            8          8

G       11               9             9          7

D

A

E

 

               C major7 in the left guitar (looks like E- triad) clashes the high B note with the high C note in the C major triad of the right guitar.

               Then before the vocals come in there’s lots of pretty stuff, summarized by chord xxx537, C major 9. 

 

               Vocals:  A, A, A, A….G, G…. B, G, A…B, G, F#

               “You came to take us”: D D D D…C (with 3rds underneath: B B B B…A)

               “All things go”: E C B…D B A (with 3rds underneath: C A G…B G F#)

 

Same chord progression as Coldplay - Clocks

                      

November 8, 2024

Ray Lynch - Deep Breakfast

 

 
 

Ray Lynch @ spotify 

Ray Lynch @ discogs.com

Ray Lynch - Deep Breakfast 



1.  Celestial Soda Pop

 

               || C#-               |  C#-                   |   B maj                     |  C#-                           |

               | C#-               |  C#-                     |   G#-                        |  C#-                           |

               | C#-               |  E maj                  |   B maj                     |  E maj                        |

               | Bmaj            |  C#-                     |   G#-                        |  A maj                        |

             | A maj B maj |  C#-                     || 

              

Call Me!

               C# minor melody mainly just ascending and then descending the scale (C#, D#, E, F#, G#, A, B).

               With each repetition a new instrument plays the melody.

 

 

 

2.  The Oh of Pleasure

 

               ||  Ab maj             |                                       |  C-/G                 |                                |

               | F-9                       |                                       |  Db maj             |                               |

               |Ab maj                |                                        ||

              

               Huge, vast oceany stretches of arpeggios.  The Ab major sets up nicely so that the C- chord sounds like an extension of the Ab major, making it feel like a huge stretch of Abmaj7.  Ab maj contains (Ab, C, Eb) and C- contains (C, Eb, G) and Abmaj7 is (Ab, C, Eb, G).  So the first two chords are kind of like one long Abmaj7 chord, especially coz of the G in the bass.  An extra zinger is thrown in when the arpeggio over C-/G emphasizes the 9 (D natural) to give a heart twisting pain.  OUCH!

               Similarly, the arpeggio for F- focuses on the 9 (G natural) in certain flourishes. 

               Lots of similar coral intricacies in these oceans.

 

 

3.  Falling in the Garden

              

               ||B maj                |B maj                     | B maj                     |   B maj                       |

               |D#-                      |G#-                        | E maj                      |   B maj                       |

                              Then other chord changes happen within the B major scale.

               The main melody plays this innocent and planty: B, Bb, F#, E.  Which implies like B maj11 which in the theory world is a no no, but in the sounds good world is a yes yes!  Usually for a major chord it’s #11. 

               Something about major11 chords are filled with chlorophyll.  I think this  Terranigma song, Evergreen, does something similar.

 

 

4.  Your Feeling Shoulders

 

               Opens with a big E minor arpeggio, like: E, up to E, up to B, up to G, up to E…etc. climbing and climbing.

               In the first section, very Japanese koto like arpeggiations, is basically E- and D major back and forth a little, then eventually C major 7 makes a Bjorkish entrance.

Then there is a wonky key change to Bb major, Eb major back and forth a few times, and eventually resolving to G major which helps set us up in E minor, since G major is the relative major of E minor. 

Briefly there is a suspended motion on F minor, before getting into…

               …The big riff at around the 16:08 mark there’s a sweet Arabic(?) sound riff that’s roughly alternating between C7 and Db major.  The descending melodic line is vaguely Bb, G, F, E, Db, C, while the bass underneath alternates between C and Db.  But a C drone in the bass also works.  The scale is C, Db, E, F, G, Ab, Bb….C Phrygian Dominant I believe.  This fancy riff descends into like G major and D major, some B-, then lands on E- and loops us back to the beginning.  Excellent seamless transition.

 

5.  Rhythm in the Pews

 

               Very Pachelbel.  A section:

 

               ||D maj                      |  A maj                   |  B-                       |  G maj                         |

               |D maj                        |  E-/B       C maj     |  G maj                 |  G  maj                        ||

 

               B section:

              

               ||  E-                       |  C maj                        |  E-                        |  C maj                          |

               |  E-                         |  C maj                        |  Gmaj                  |  Gmaj                         |

               |  E-                         |  Dmaj                        |  E-                        |  D maj                          |

              

               Then like an alternating between B- and G major…and towards the end somewhere F#- thrown in.

 

 

6.  Kathleen’s Song

 

               Kathleen, what did you to do deserve that freaky ass tritone/whole tone intro??  Intro melody B, F#, B, F repeats a few times, then D#, G, A which trails off into a whole tone scale (B, C#, D#, F, G, A). 

               Then a very beautiful:

 

               ||G  maj                           |  G maj                      |   D maj7                    |     D maj7                     |

               |G  maj                             |  G maj                      |   D maj7                    |     D maj7                     |

               |G  maj                            |  G maj                      |   F#-                            |     F#-                            |

               | G  maj                           |  G maj                      |   E-                              |     A7                             |

               |  D maj7                          |  D maj7                   |  D maj7                      |  D maj7                        ||

              

               Melody focuses a lot on C#, flavoring the G chords Lydian and really flourishing D major with the major 7.  C#,  Interestingly, the Verse melody starts on the B note, which is shared by the B whole tone scale that was previously getting zany.  Verse Melody:  B…C#, D, E, C# down to B.. over the G major.  And F#, A, B, C#, F# over the D major.

               The D major7 towards the end of the form especially washes over you like the tide of longing nostalgia via Kingdom Heart's, "Dearly Beloved".

               Fades out on G major to F#-.

 

 

7.  Pastorale

 

               You can practically hear the sheep being herded in this track.  C# major sometimes switching over to C# mixolydian via B maj (bVII). 

               Bass pattern is:  C#, G#, D#, G#, F, G#, F#, G# outlining C#maj and C#7sus4.

               B section is key change to F#7 (F# mixolydian).

 

               C Section:

               ||  Bb-                    |                               |  F-                        |                         |

               |  Gbmaj                |  Eb-                        |  Ab7                   |                          |

               | Bb-                       |  Gbmaj                  ||   C#maj           ||

 

 

8.  Tiny Geometries

 

               This bit repeats for a while in F major:

               || Fmaj                      |                             |  D-                       |                               |

               |  Bbmaj                     |                             |  Fmaj                   |                               ||

              

               Then, in F Dorian (or C minor):

               || C-                           |                               | Abmaj                  |                              |

               | F  -                           |                               | Abmaj                  |                              |

               |Bbmaj                      |                               | G-                         |                              |

               |Bbmaj                      |                               | G-                         |                              |

              

               Then like D minor….eventually to Abmaj….then C major….F major…. D minor…. Bb major….F major…a little hard to follow, this like some Terje Rypdal shit right here.