A LT- J (∆ ) TA R OS O N G A N A LY S I S | S O N G W R I T I N G C A 1 | B R E T I S L A V S TA S A | T 0 0 1 9 1 7 4 8

A LT- J (∆ )• English indie rock band formed in 2007

in Leeds University by one English and 3 Fine Arts students

• Gwil Sainsbury (guitar/bass)

• Joe Newman (guitar/lead vocals)

• Gus Unger-Hamilton (keyboards/backing vocals)

• Thom Green (drums)

• due to living in student halls, they’d compose without using bass or bass drums [1]

• Thom Green suffers from rare Alport Syndrome which makes him 80% deaf

• Official name of the band is ∆, however, pronounced as ALT J as it is the way of spelling it on Mac keyboard

A L B U M S• An Awesome Wave (2011)

• producer Charlie Andrew (London)

• ft. Breezeblocks, Matilda, Tessellate and others.

• album received largely favourable reviews and was described as a "captivating blend of insatiable grooves and profound poignancy”[2]

• Album won Mercury Prize and reached 13 in the UK chart

• This Is All Yours (2014)

• went straight to Number 1 on the UK's Official Albums Chart

• Gwil Sainsbury left the band

S I G N AT U R E S T Y L E• Joe Newman's whiny-nasal vocals

• distortion pedal sound

• screek of the actual guitar

• crooning hum of the undernotes

• pulsing drum-beat buzz

• abruptly amputated ending [3]

• musical eclecticism, geek yet opinionated indie rock, influenced by Radiohead [1]

• Fun fact: Milley Cyrus became a super fan of the band, often covering their songs while touring [1]

TA R O2 0 1 2 – A N A W E S O M E W A V E

M E A N I N G

• [The song] describes the life of [war photographer] Gerda Taro and her life partner Robert Capa who both died separately covering wars in the mid 20th century. Gerda died during Battle of Brunete on July 26, 1937 while Robert died several years later in 1954 by stepping on a land mine. The song Taro describes the events and the reunion of the two in the afterlife. [4]

LY R I C SIndochina, Capa jumps Jeep, two feet creep up the road

To photo, to record meat lumps and war,

They advance as does his chance – very yellow white flash.

A violent wrench grips mass, rips light, tears limbs like rags,

Burst so high finally Capa lands,

Mine is a watery pit. Painless with immense distance

From medic from colleague, friend, enemy, foe, him five yards from his leg,

From you Taro.Do not spray into eyes – I have sprayed you into my eyes.

3:10 pm, Capa pends death, quivers, last rattles, last chokes

All colours and cares glaze to grey, shrivelled and stricken to dots,

Left hand grasps what the body grasps not – le photographe est mort.

3.1415, alive no longer my amour, faded for home May of ‘54

Doors open like arms my love, Painless with a great closeness

To Capa, to Capa Capa dark after nothing, re-united with his leg and with you, Taro.

Do not spray into eyes – I have sprayed you into my eyes.

Hey Taro!

S O N G S T R U C T U R E

Intro Lead guitar enters, second guitar with reverb follows on the off-beat copying the melody

Verse A guitars stop, lead voice enters holding semibreve for the whole bar and then lead guitar follows in bar 2

Interlude guitar exits, lead voice vocalizes, cello enters on the same beat

Verse Bvoice and cello continue, drums and lead guitar enter, strings enter with pizzicato, the last 3 bars instruments stop and only voice continues

Instrumental voice exits, 2nd guitar enters in Dat Riff (tapped by roll of tape) along with all instruments listed above except strings

Verse A second guitar and cello exits, voice and xylophone enters …

VERSEins

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VERSEINTRO

OUTROA B A B

Interlude xylophone exits, voice vocalizes, rest of the instruments continues

Verse B 1/2 voice and rest of the instruments continues…

Verse B 2/2voice and rest of the instruments continues, second guitar joins, lead voice vocalizes, last 3 bars all instruments exits. Voice exits at the very end.

Instrumental 1

All instruments come back including second guitar tapping effect and newly added synthesizer playing counter melody and polyphonic realistic strings, after a while lead voice and 2nd voices enter

Instrumental 2All instruments except strings exit, voices continue vocalizing

OutroVoices exits, only strings continue playing the same part, fading out.

VERSEins

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VERSEINTRO

OUTROA B A B

S O M E FA C T S• Atypical song structure which

loosely resembles ABAB

• No chorus, however, there is a feeling of repetitiveness

• emphasizes instrumental parts and vocalizing over vocals

• Guitar effect imitates sound of sitar, evoking exotic atmosphere

• Bass replaced by cello

• Voices have different offset, melody avoids starting on first beat

T H E R E I S O N LY A N “ U N O F F I C I A L ” C L I P T O T H I S S O N G , W H I C H C O N S I S T S O F

F O O TA G E F R O M D O C U M E N TA RY F I L M C A L L E D P O WA Q Q AT S I , L I F E

I N T R A N S F O R M AT I O N ( 1 9 8 8 )T H E C L I P H A S O V E R 3 1 8 8 0 7 5 7 V I E W S N O W

H A R M O N Y

• written in D minor, although intro is in key of D major

• common progression: Dm / i , C / VII , Gm / iv , F / III

Outside the key:

• chord C can belong, supposing the scale is a natural minor

• C is being occasionally replaced by Cm in Verse B, which does not

• This progression contains chords of C Major family (C, F, G)

• some parts could be considered as if written in dorian mode (on C) as well

• the progression would then read as Dm / ii , Cm / i , G m/ v , F / IV

C M A J O R V S . D O R I A N M O D E

M E L O D Y

• In intro melody is doubled on the second half of the first beat, it might sound more like 6/8 than 4/4 meter

• also note the tonal change from D major to disputable D minor

• Examples of vocalization used throughout the song

R E S O U R C E S

• [1] WEINER, Jonah (27 November 2014). "How Alt-J Sold a Million Records and Made Miley a Fan". rollingstone.com. Rolling Stone.

• [2] LESTER, Paul (24 May 2012). "New band of the day: Alt-J, The Guardian, Paul Lester". London: The Guardian. https://www.theguardian.com/music/2012/may/24/new-band-alt-j

• [3] SACHTELEBEN, Marilisa: Top 10 most awesome alt-J songs, (online) https://www.axs.com/top-10-most-awesome-alt-j-songs-32127

• [4] MARTIN, Gary Winchester: Alt-J Writes Entire Song About Two Photographers Dying In War, (online) https://fstoppers.com/editorial/alt-j-writes-entire-song-about-two-photographers-dying-war-8302

• Scores and audio files used in this presentation are property of mine

• I do not own photos used in this presentation

• Free to share

P R O C L A M AT I O N

T H A N K S F O R Y O U R AT T E N T I O N

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