John Sico

  • Archive
  • RSS
  • Ask me stuff
[Flash 9 is required to listen to audio.]
  • 1,351 Plays
  • HeartbeatsThe Knife

somesongsconsidered:

“Heartbeats” – The Knife
(Words/music: The Knife, available on Deep Cuts, V2 2005)

Two very specific parts of “Heartbeats” cut through to me every time.  This is not to slight the beautifully hypnotic synthesizer groove or the song’s crafted images, but both moments that leave me breathless come from the vocal delivery.  The first comes in the second half of each line in the hook where Karin Dreijer seemingly lets the melody float higher for a word or two.  For most of the song, Dreijer sings in a tone as thick as the synthesizers accompanying her.  It’s not quite a falsetto, but it achieves a similar effect – her voice sounds lighter and higher for this moment like a dancer nimbly leaping across the stage.  Like the most gifted dancers, Dreijer’s voice feels less like a jump and more like a hovering glide that lingers a split second longer than gravity should allow.  It’s a brief trick, as Dreijer returns back to her normal cadence at the beginning of the next line.

It’s this momentary hover plus the modulation upward in the bridge that sets up the knock-out punch: the “yeah-ah” vocal in the second chorus.  In a song that blurs its lustful images with foreboding overtones, this vocal radiates with joy.  When woven in with the hook at irregular intervals, it overlaps with different notes each time, yet no part feels out-of-place.  Moreover, where Dreijer’s voice hovers on those couple of notes in the hook, this vocal soars unrestrained.  In a song with plenty of melodic gems, this bit sticks with me days after hearing the song.  

More on The Knife: Allmusic | Amazon MP3 | Emusic | Last.fm

Love this song, and love the description even more. 

Source: somesongsconsidered

  • 2 years ago > somesongsconsidered
  • 81
  • Permalink
  • Share

81 Notes/ Hide

  1. dewayne63dop liked this
  2. danieloco liked this
  3. shotgunchic liked this
  4. veryhighkindaguy liked this
  5. deer-fetish reblogged this from somesongsconsidered
  6. lionslionslions reblogged this from thepeacebypieceproject
  7. tryingtocatchhereye reblogged this from somesongsconsidered
  8. cosmicmuffin reblogged this from hypem
  9. mmanal reblogged this from hypem
  10. massivevibrations liked this
  11. massivevibrations reblogged this from hypem
  12. dcarrilloc reblogged this from hypem
  13. shellyfilleddonut liked this
  14. black-tokyo reblogged this from hypem
  15. dollfacedreamer liked this
  16. kdachrome reblogged this from hypem
  17. electrichoney liked this
  18. nakedsunshine liked this
  19. theydothingsdifferentlythere liked this
  20. amoderndayromance liked this
  21. surveillancedoe reblogged this from hypem
  22. surveillancedoe liked this
  23. likeapairofbottlerockets liked this
  24. tearssforrfearss liked this
  25. bubizitrone liked this
  26. veronniethinkshappy liked this
  27. lulublanche liked this
  28. nelipot reblogged this from somesongsconsidered and added:
    I think I may have posted...Heartbeats before, but it’s deffo worth revisiting.
  29. sarahsalm liked this
  30. crumbler liked this
  31. mlee525 liked this
  32. theconqueringlion liked this
  33. morrrgan liked this
  34. tumblinthrough liked this
  35. blanketrash reblogged this from hypem
  36. blanketrash liked this
  37. derbyboy reblogged this from somesongsconsidered and added:
    description even more.
  38. chntzzl liked this
  39. hanbanesty liked this
  40. andreamichelle liked this
  41. egryan liked this
  42. porcelainprisms liked this
  43. clearwithsparkles reblogged this from hypem
  44. burningfp liked this
  45. soundofsiren liked this
  46. hypem reblogged this from somesongsconsidered
  47. kathleenandco liked this
  48. peep-toe-shoes reblogged this from norriei
  49. elliegreenwichcandance liked this
  50. Show more notesLoading...
← Previous • Next →

About

Me, Elsewhere

  • @thejohnabides on Twitter
  • johnsico on github

Twitter

loading tweets…

I Dig These Posts

See more →
  • Photo via langer

    :D

    Photo via langer
  • Post via andrealauren220
    one.

    i say cunt. a lot. 90% of the time it is said about somebody who is, in fact, being a cunt. and about 10% of the time it’s about something...

    Post via andrealauren220
  • Post via superamit
    Stopping runaway CPU usage by mds, mdworker, and mdimport

    I found that mds and mdimport were constantly running, and often taking up to 90-100% of...

    Post via superamit
  • Photo via taitems

    Introducing the UX Lab

    The lab is a place for me to share my thoughts and experiments with the web development community. While the name indicates...

    Photo via taitems
  • Post via instagram-engineering
    Instagram Engineering Challenge: The Unshredder

    image

    In our office, we have a pretty amazing paper shredder. Seriously, the thing shreds just...

    Post via instagram-engineering
  • RSS
  • Random
  • Archive
  • Ask me stuff
  • Mobile

Effector Theme by Carlo Franco.

Powered by Tumblr