Takashi Kokubo - Shadow of the Full Moon
Lavender breeze carries on dewy morning through reeds of The Sage’s thatched hut. Mountain bells toll, chimes dance, and a holy chanting in the distance. And breeze whimpers away, reluctant to let go, until finally quenched in the corners by the shadow of the full moon.
1. Morning Mist
Opening chord like C maj6/9, focusing on D and B notes in the voicings.
Guitar voicings: x32230 or x32430
Then there’s A-11, very similar (11th of A is D, the same as the 2nd of C)
Guitar voicings: x07530 or x05530
Synth blasts us briskly with A to E (5th)…D, E, G….G, down to E, to A… and in general plays around on A minor pentatonic scale, focusing on the softer neutral notes, like the 11th (D) 5th (E) and b7 (G).
At 4:17, the synth hits F# (natural 6th of A) which briefly changes the flavor of A minor pentatonic (A, C, D, E, G) to A Dorian (A, C, D, E, F#, G).
A delay riff comes into play that focuses generally on the theme B, C, D, C. This riff uses the 9th (B) more than the synth lead line.
Around the 5 minute mark a chord progression becomes established: A-, G maj, D5, C maj. And every now and then when the synth plays that F# note, it tends to fall over the D5 chord, implying it to be like a D7 chord (D, F#, A, C). So for that brief moment we have a flavorful morning sip of tea. Otherwise the synthesizer continues outlining the more neutral notes of the chords, like the 11ths and the 5ths.
Around the 8:20 mark there’s a brief metallic repeating pattern that plays C, D, G while the bass note changes between C and A. This creates suspended sounds, Csus2 (C, D, G) and A-11 (A,C, D, G)
Guitar voicing: x3x533 or x0x533
Monk meditation chanting hums in around 8:49.
Around 11 minute time stamp, synth lead comes in on E, D, E, G….then G, E, G, A…then, A, G, A, D…very much like a blues guitar player shredding pentatonic trills.
12:20….Pure rain…crisp tambourine, delicate synth lead, holy chimes, birds
13:24….Slow synth lead ascending 4ths..A, D, G, up another octave to D….then C, B, C, B, A, minor pentatonic run.
Then the build from the beginning happens, the C maj6/9 chord to A-11…then gradually the themes are reintroduced…then the holy harmony of A-, Gmaj, D5, Cmaj.
2. Hermitage
Main riff plays like D up to G, up to A up to D up to E. On guitar it’s roughly: x55230 (D, G, A, D, E). Another brilliant chord, a vague Dsus (D, G, A)..Gsus2 (G, A, D)…or Asus (A, D, E). Lots of fun and ambiguous, like the anonymous hermit in the mountains..shrouded by foliage and the morning mist.
Synth lead similar to previous song, mainly playing A minor pentatonic stuff (A, C, D, E, G) focusing on the sussy notes (A, D, E) but throwing in F# (natural 6th) here and there to color it A Dorian.
22:53…flute of the wind playing E, G, A, G, A trill riff. Then G, A, C~~….B~~…G~~. Very Chinese, very Tao, very Lao Tsu.
24:52….so this is fun…there’s this recurring bell motif that plays on notes F#, F, D. So F#, cool yea that fits with the A Dorian thing, but that brief A natural, almost like it’s a chromatic blues thing in D major blues scale (D, E, F, F#, A, B). SO WEIRD to hear that blues thang in this context. And the way the F# blurs into the F..then fades while the D resounds, super neat. The bell overtones make this extra hard to pin down since the pitches are harder to identify, and prolly why the chromatic passage works so well.
29:17..big fade out…quietness…focus on these C Lydian harmonies…C maj7, A-, F maj7. Bits of F# note over the chord except the F major7…then back to the build up.
3. Shadow of the Full Moon
Opening with piano meanderings, summer wind blowing bells and chimes, crickets, airy synth pad. The general harmonies played by the pad is Asus, A-7, Fmaj(#11), Cmaj7 voiced (C,B,D,G).
Around the 40:00 mark, quartal ascending piano leading to opening riff: C, B, G.
Piano harmonies focus on Fmaj(#11), lots of sharp brightness…some D-9….A-9, etc. Eventually leading to C major and D7sus. The main anchor chord is the Fmaj(#11). A few goes of this chord progression, more quartal stacking harmonies, then…
…synth pad returns, July swept chimes, crickets, wind…piano playing on motif C, B, G and sometimes B, C, D, down to G.
Generally there’s just a lot of pretty F Lydian ideas (F, G, A, B, C, D, E) with most of the focus on a held out B note…exhaling to resolve on A, across all instruments (bells, pad, piano). Also a bit of focus on resolving lines on G..the major 9th of Fmajor…prolly what creates the longing lilting feeling..as opposed to the strong B emphasis which is mournful and beautifully aching.
Around 47:12, piano outlines a wide Fmaj13 arpeggio spelled like: F, up to C, up to B, down to A, up to D, up to B, down to A. Lots of upward motions.
F to C is the perfect 5th, C to B is the major 7th, A to D the perfect 4th, D to B the major 6th. It’s crazy. The chord is spread across multiple octaves coz of this, the only downward motion is the whole step from B down to A, both times (outlining the B to A resolve that happens throughout the song). But every other motion in this chord is ascending.
Finally, single bell ringing on F amongst night bugs and the wind.
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