Otherwise known as “8 Phases of a Rain Storm”, Wet Land takes
us through a pleasantly swampy, damp, gray rainscape filled with 8 bit glowing
insects, bull frogs, MIST, and other aqueous sonic-water nature
happenings. The album clocks in around
38 minutes, making it a smooth dive for a dreary rainy day, or an easy to
swallow endless album repeat ad infinitum.
This album is #1 in the series, “Music for Your Mind - Relaxation Music"
Something is up with the tuning in this album, it is not A440. Might contribute its otherworldly feeling.
1. Wet Land
|| E major 9 | E
major 9 | E major 9 | A major 9
|
| A major 9 | E major
9 | B major 7 | E major 9
|
| A major 9 | B
major 7 | Bmajor/E |
Bmajor/E |
| A major 13 | Bmaj Amaj7| B maj Bmaj7*| A major7**||
The E
major 9 is voiced something like E, F#, B, D#.
The riff is what mostly implies the voicing. Same thing with the A major 9; it is voiced
A, B, E, G# (Emajor triad with A in the bass!)
Again, similar style voicing with B major 7 (B, C#, F#, A#).
Yoshimura
starts introducing a cool slash chord, Bmajor triad over E. Actually, most of the chords in this song can
be viewed as slash chords, since they’re all triad based over a different root
note. He probably does a lot others that
I couldn’t catch in here, they’re tricky to piece together.
*The
Bmajor 7 has HEAVY emphasis on the 7th scale degree, his lands the
synth line on that cloudy A#, drilling into that ethereal tension.
** Small
side note of SUPER SUSPENSION, he might hold this chord out for a little past
the measure. After this A major he does
more of the same chord wise, starts throwing in some minor chords. The song ends on our good friend, E major 9.
A
pleasant heaviness hangs in the air, a toad splash through the marsh. Cool breeze, emptiness. This visual-aural haiku gem combination
boasts major chords all over the place in a THICC synth pad. This must be what it sounds like when clouds
have sex. Finally fakes out at the end,
with that sustained silence at the end of the progression mimicking an
ending. Major 7 chord slips in to save
the day from the conventional ending.
More repletion on this chord, plz.
2. Singing Stream
(Spring Mix)
Water stream immediately pops
up. Synth choir sounds pierce the
water. Digital amphibian ribbits pan
in. It’s like an NES scene with purple,
blue waters, green grass, and black black background. Lightning bugs hover just above the waist
high grass. The night’s alive; the
creatures come out for festival. And we
dance.
This one is Dbmajor7 all over the
place. Synth choir opens up with notes C
and Ab. A bull frog sound comes in that
is bumping away on note Db. Lil ostinato
plays Db, Ab, Db, like a bossa nova bass line.
Bass line comes in and hits the following notes: Db, F, Ab, Db, Ab, Ab,
Ab. Db, F, Ab, C, Ab, Ab, Ab. It’s outlining the Dmajor 7 arpeggio. All the while choir synth paints the sky with
D major 7 chords and sometimes a voicing like Db F, Ab, Eb. Choir also hits some Lydian stuff (G)
sometimes in the far far back.
Oh GAWD, THAT BASS <3
This
song mostly has only a handful of diff tracks that layer in at different
timings. The combinations of tracks are
what successfully display interest. This
is how the builds happen. EX: Track A + B + C, then track A + C. Then track C. Then track B + C.
The song
eventually Bjorks itself out with deep strings.
This song is the rain storm.
The
choir synth is a huge aspect of this song.
3. Heart Land
DIG IT.
This is a variation on the theme from the first song, “Wet Land”. Similar chord structures, similar
synths. Eventually a pipe sounding back
pad come in for some minimal note action.
And an acoustic piano comes in to play more or less isolated intervals,
mostly Sol-Do type stuff. Water drops can be heard panned in each ears;
the left over droplets fall from pine needles and leaves suspended up
high. They splunk and become one with
their brothers and sisters below. This
song is about after the rain storm, the humid stillness in the world after a
heavy rain. Yoshimura is a genius.
(Heart Land lazes between an Emajor7
and Bmajor).
4. Ka Wa Mo
More running water, more emphasis
on the running water. Field recording of
a stream in addition to fast synthesizers playing high octave arpeggios up and
down on both ears, this is to blend with the water. Synth in the background, we’ve heard this pad
sound plenty by now. The song has a very
curious ending; it sounds like it’s going to start up a new movement, but cops
out at the end. Still beautiful though.
Short song, choir synth with G
major. The water synth riff I THINK is
G, E, D, like the horse stable song from Zelda.
Some other synth pads come in and hit focus on E notes; must be the sun
shining through after the storm.
5. Mist
Traveling through the night, rush
like wind through the tall grass. So
fast, there is no splashing through the marsh.
There’s
lots of swelling sounds going on here.
The lower, vibrating synth that sounds like it’s from Tales of Destiny 2
(Eternia), as well as a higher synth pad and a shrieking type synth. The shrieking synth could be bats and their
echo location. Sounds like it could be a
reverse sound effect.
Lots of
improvised night magic happening in both ears.
Slide guitar pickering, hollow shooting stars, somewhat delayed EP sound
hopping in the middle, choir synth.
Eventually both sides ascending synth line, they’re both the same line but
rhythmically are offset so they overlap in neat ways.
Getting
a vibe of Fmajor 7 to Eminor 7 stuff popping around in here. Hard to pin this one down, BC IT IS MIST! Best to leave this one un-deciphered, ancient
magic should be left alone sometimes.
6. Rain Dance (Rain
Mix)
THIS
SONG IS A VARIATION OF SINGING STREAM (TRACK 2).
More RAIN. This is based off the theme of song 2: the
bass is playing the same type of riff but maybe a diff key and a higher
octave. The active insects are back. And we dance.
How could such a sound be organic, synthetic, groovy and digital all at
once? This song could be god. Who knows?
Song starts with that step wise (?)
ascending synth riff. Could be a major
barre chord, not sure.
After a
slight lowering of the activity, bass man comes in again doing some FUNKY ASS
MID RANG STUFF. The dance changes, it is
raining again. Groove grind for the
insects, the grass, the clouds, and the air.
All of Mother Nature is getting synchronized with each other and
enjoying the socialization.
Lots of
layering in this song just like song 2.
There’s so much going on here.
Funky bass, synth pad both sides, improvised EP sounds both sides, main
riff EP in the middle, trickling downward beauty water spouts on both sides of
ears, string sounds come in too!
After
the biggest funktastic jam dance, the active instruments back out and its more
the chill instruments biding their time.
Like its
counterpart, this song bumps a lucid Db major chord in the beginning. One of the insects this time harps away on a
C note. Xylophone/rhythmically active
whatever that thing is (EP?) is dancing between a set of 6ths: C, Ab + Eb, C.
Bass
line that comes in later is in C minor!!
That’s super cool. C minor lays
over Dbmajor 7 strangely! (C, Eb, G, being the 3rd, 5th,
and 7th of Db major), so that’s a groovy change. A lot of the higher end melody rhythmic stuff
happening is in Db major 7, while the bass overlaps it with C minor. Modal micro-ecosystems are coming together.
7. Dawn
THEME OFF SONG 3, RITE? WHICH IS WEIRD BC SONG 3 IS THEME OFF OF
SONG!
7 > 3 > 1. One
is the opener, uses major chords but all synth instruments. 3 is the song that copies 1, but adds more
acoustic instruments. 7 uses almost all
acoustic instruments, but is so far removed from song 1.
E major
7, some B major, some G# minor too. E major
sounds SO much like Harold Budd’s voicing on Late October his album, “The Pearl”. Or Against the Sky, I mean, it could be THAT
song.
8. Humming Water
Sounds like a ufo landing,
yea? I mean, I witness it all the time,
so I know what that sounds like. There’s
a single chord vamping while spirits ghost about on the sides. This is like the haziness of the silver
morning behind the stroking water as it goes about its busy day.
This is
kind of a weird way to end an album? I
mean that single chord vamp is major but that chorus gives it a cartoony spooky
vibe. The water running is active,
though the album started off slow. This
ending songs leads toward something more, another song, but it ends. Is that the path of water?
A Major
7, SOME Lydian (D#) in there but he doesn’t harp on it too much. Almost expected this to be A mixolydian bc of
that background synth choir pad.
Musical terms to describe this album:
-Lots and Lots of choir synth in
this album! It’s almost in every song.
-Focus on FLOW of full album. Which songs are quiet, which songs are busy,
etc. etc.
-Mimicking nature with
synthesizer. Like in Singing Stream
(track 2), the synth imitates the chirping insects, the bullfrog croak.
Misc. Conclusions:
Layout for level of activity
between songs:
-Tracks 1, 3, and 7 are variations
of each other and have a relax vibe. (1, 3, 7 is a major chord
formula!!!!!!!!!!)
-Tracks 2 and 6 are variations of
each other and are very active, dance like, and rhythmic in their vibe (2nds
and 6ths of a major scale are minor modes!!)
-Tracks 4 and 8 are variations of
each other. They fall somewhat in the
middle. They are relaxed but with a
moderate amount of activity.
-Track 5 is somewhat unique. It is stand alone, it contains LOW and HIGH
activity elements, perhaps because it builds over time.
-Songs 1, 3, 7 are LOW activity. Tracks 2 and 6 are HIGH activity. Tracks 4 and 8 are MEDIUM ACTIVITY. Track 5 is a DYNAMIC SONG all around.
-Wet Land makes the most out of a
little, harmonically speaking. There’s
no whack jazz changes; mostly diatonic stuff in E major, or a solid Db major 7
chord for an entire song. But Hiroshi
Yoshimura extracts every bit of world from these key centers and paints a
living rainscape.
-LOVE how this album feels
reflective of Budd and Eno’s, “The Pearl”
This album is all about flow! Water has different rates of aqueous activity,
from calm pools to brisk babbling brooks.
Each song has a smooth dynamic flow, as well as the entire album. There is a curve that follows the entire
album, peaking at rhythmically active heights and falling and inspiriting, slow
breathed lulls.
This
album could have also been named, “8 Phases of a Rain Storm”.
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