Witan - Hibernal

 

Witan - Hibernal 

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The snow dusted peaks of anonymous mountain, where pristine stillness pervades all life, where silence feels comfortably numb.

Recommended reading: Yasunari Kawabata - Snow Country

 

1.  Hibernal

 

               Bb-11 is our general tonality.  The scale is Bb, C, Db, Eb, F, Ab.  No mention of a 6^th (or 13^th) here, and there is some focus on C (the 9^th) in the delay riff, but otherwise the yearning snow swells focus on the Bb-7 arpeggio with some breezes of 11^ths here and there. 

Lots of humming F, Ab, and Bb, and particularly humming Ab notes in the lower registers. 

               Some voicings that encapsulate the vibe: xx8869 (Bb, Eb, F, Db) Bb-11

               The delay riff plays Bb, F, Eb, down to C.  So we have root, 5^th, 11^th, down to 9^th.  There’s a bass part that overlaps with this: Bb, F, Db, C.  Nearly in unison, except for the bass plays Db under the higher Eb, huge major 9^th leap creating more of that open blizzard air space.

 

 

2.  Isenfang

 

               Bass starts us outlining D- arpeggio: D, F, A.  With plenty of chilling overtones.  Every now and then, during the F note, Bb is hidden in there, creating like a very brief vague Bb major sound.  The difference between D- (D, F, A) and Bb major inversion (D, F, Bb) is that itty bitty half step between A and Bb, and Isenfang capitalizes on that chance and pulls us back and forth seamlessly between the two. 

               D minor scale: D, E, F, A, Bb, C, D.  No mention of G (11^th) here, instead we get the moody b6 (Bb).

               Sometimes there’s a low/mid E (the 9^th) that sustains and clashes against the Fs and the Bbs of the song, making b9 and triton tonalities, giving Isenfang it’s spooky melancholy.

 

 

3.  Whispering Pines

 

               Bass plays B up to F#, up to A, down to F#, down to D…then B, F#, A, F#.  Again Witan outlines minor 7 arpeggio.  Scale follows very strictly B- pentatonic scale creating a Chinese flare also reflected in the song’s haiku-ish title. 

               Main riff is A down to F#, F# E, D ,B.  Straightforward B minor pentatonic riff (B, D, E, F#, A).  A higher pitch riff loosely harmonizes and plays A, F#, E, F#. 

 

 

4.  Solitude

 

               Bass opens with B, D, C#, A.  Presents B minor flavor, but this time focusing on the C# (9^th), and leaving the riff hanging on that A note creates a suspenseful tension. 

               Keyboard chord drop: x9977x  B- triad inversion with D on the top note and F# in the lower register. 

               Ghostly moans on notes A, F#, E, and C#, sometimes (at timestamp 19:00) on G natural.  SPOO-KEY! Hanging on to that b9 interval between F# and G natural, all within the B- scale.

               This one especially is reminiscent of Harold Budd and Clive Wright’s A Song For Lost Blossoms. 

 

 

5.  AElfscinu

 

               Super fun one!  Sounds like something from Final Fantasy 7, but can’t quite put my finger on it.  We have these two lower parts harmonizing, one playing A, C, A, C back and forth.  The other D, F, D, F back and forth.  D harmonizing with A, then F with C.  It’s D-7 chord harmonizing in 5ths, sooo good..like a fluffy fresh dense insulating snow.  Guitar voiced as x5321x.  It’s a bit of a hand stretch but doable!.

               The higher riff plays D, C…A…C….    D, C,…A, E up to C then A.  The 2^nd part of this riff outlines A- triad (A, C, E) which share a lot of common notes with D-7, BUT, hits at that E natural (5^th in A-, 9^th in D-).  Super cool

 

 

6.  Langaniht

              

               Lots of trickiness going on here.  Low hum throughout the whole tune with a bunch of overtones.  From what I could approximate, it starts on F, then to Ab, then Eb…to C…G…Ab…Db…C.  The C hum has hints of E overtones.  SO that’s fun, since the song is generally outlining an F minor scale (F, G, Ab, C, Db, Eb) but E could technically work by making it F harmonic minor.  Also I didn’t notice any Bb (11^th) in here.

               At some point the hums hang on this Ab thing, like 4x4556…Ab9(b13) chord.  Then like they morph to B- briefly then C-7b5.

               Around 30:52 there’s a shrill D note…then like Eb minor major 7:  x9876x.  From here on out we are set up in a vaguely Eb- tonality with a surprise B majorish around 34:27.  This one is lots and lots of fun trying to hear out the swells/feedbacks/overtones and working out what chords are materializing from the mist. 

 

 

7.  Stillness

 

               Main riff is G down to F#, up to D, then B, then F#, then up to G.  Repeats an octave higher.

               There’s hums that hit E (13^th) here and there.  So we’re looking at G major scale (G, A, B, D, E, F#).

               Some fitting chord voicings:

xx520x (G, A, B)

3x0202 (G, D, A, B, F#)

5x4430 (A, F#, B, D, E)

               Curiously similar to Budd’s Still Return.

 

 

8.  Bygone

 

               Chord progression in like B minor tonality (kind of suspended though):

               xx997x  (B, E, F#)

               xx9979  (B, E, F#, B)

               xx9977  (B, E, F#, A)

               xx7755  (A, D, E, A)

 

               Water droplets in B minor

               Higher chords come in like:

xxx475 (B, F#, A)

some chord voiced like that but with G note in it

then like xxx002 to xxx003, G major 7 resolve up to open G major.

 

 

9.  Moonlit

 

               The main chord shape is C#-7, x45500, and the riff plays like C#, G#, E, C#, E, B…C#, G#, E, C#, E.  It’s just picking out the notes from that chord shape.

               More snowy shrieks, focusing on G# (5^th), F# (11^th) and D# (9^th)

               High riff: C#, D#, C#, B, G#, F#, G#....C#, D#, C#, B.  It’s almost like a B major pentatonic riff overtop of the C#-7 chord.  OR can be thought of as G# minor pentatonic riff.  Both ways work!

 

 

 

10.  Echoes

 

               There’s a lot of D major triad stuff, notes of focus are D, E, F#, A, B (D major pentatonic).  The bass note will drop from D to B coloring everything minor. 

 

 

11.  Cealdmor

 

               There’s octaves of E, to G#, down to C#.  Tonality oscillating between E major and C# minor.  A bit of digital (?) fuzz in the background to offer that snowy grainy ambiance.

 

12.  Lenteswefn

 

               Slow build up of this chord, notes A and G, C then B.  A to G is minor 7^th, C to B is major 7^th.  Cool 7^th idea!  This spells A-9  xx7587.  But WAIT, there’s more!  The G note blurs into F#, creating an A-13 sound..but WAIT, there’s even more!  The bass alternates between A and D notes, creating our first chord progression of the album, A- to D7, a good ol’ jazz II V.  Super neato, especially with the G/F# line gets hazy like sunned snow blowing around blindingly.  Lots of crystalline harmonies sustaining and ringing out like a pristine frost weathered lake forest.

               Some voicings that work well:

                              xx7587  (A,C,G,B)

                              x010.11.8.0 (okay this one is weird to tab out, it’s A, C, F#, G, E)

                              x05570 (A, G, C, F#, E)

 

Ray Lynch - Deep Breakfast

 

 

 

Ray Lynch official site

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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.