-Follow Up-

Before reading this post, I encourage you to read the post before this one and listen to the three songs I talked about in order.

I wanted to do a follow up on the last post to give you my opinions and ideas about what makes the trio of songs so fantastic. I want to challenge you to develop your ear more by listening for some things that I will point out in these songs, and begin to apply this knowledge of enjoyment to other songs.

Minstrel's Prayer - To begin this trio I think what makes this set so powerful is the way it all starts. It's a very simple, kinda eerie drum beat with strong vocals and impacting lyrics. The lyrics challenge song writers, poets, dreamers, to say, "what is all this all about?" As the song goes on, Cartel begins to layer the song with other instruments like cello, violin, guitar, and such. In adding more instruments to a song, some bands face a little thing I like to call, "over doin' it." Basically, the song turns into the most instruments playing as loud as they can and as many notes as they can to create a powerful feeling. However, this just flusters me and should fluster you. For music doesn't move us by sheer volume or mass amounts of notes; sometimes the most intesense musicical pieces are the softest and simplest ones. (For an example check out on youtube - Eric Whitacre's, Sleep) Anyways, what makes this trio great is how this song starts off by drawing the listener in and says, "Come on, check this out!"

Q - This song does a great job doing exactly what it's title says, and that is to question us. Questioning people, demographics, ways of thinking, and life. The song transitions that happen within these three songs are amazing! First of all the transitions between songs is so smooth that it feels like you're listening to one song. Also in the transitions between verses, choruses, and bridges the musicians do a great job of not loosing the listener but creating an expectation for what's coming next. Such as the drum fills that start at 1: 36 and 2:22, in which almost all the instruments stop playing, but then when they come back in, they do it in a way not to take away from what the other instruments are doing. Pay attention to the bass and what he does when he comes back in after each of those drum fills.

A - The finally song of this trio. There are three things that stand out to me in this song. The first is continuing with what happened in Q, as in the challenging lyrics. Such as in the way he builds up his vocal melody line through the lyric, "And you can take this however you want, yeah you can take this however you want, but don't be so so sure that this all adds up to you." Then he hits us with another strong vocal while the instruments are playing a very simple musical line behind him, but accenting his vocal line with the lyric, "And you can take this however you want, yeah you can take this however you want just don't waste your breathe unless you can save us, so tell me can you?"

The second things in this song that stands out to me is the instrument layering. What I mean by this is how the piano introduces a very simple but beautiful melody line at 2:06. Or how at 3:04 the instruments start to fade out and stop playing as the chanting crowd in the background sings, until all you hear is an electronic drum beat with a repeating electronic guitar rhythm. At this point you may see the song is only half way done, so two thoughts enter your mind, usually subconsciously. "What else could happen in this song?" And, "This is the end of the CD, how will they end it?"

Here is where the third standout catches my attention. The effects on instruments and vocals, techno beats, and very subtle sounds such as the children playing and laughing in the background. This final powerful aspect to this trio of songs, really makes you keep listening and makes you want to listen to it over and over again. I've had this CD for about five years and every time I listen to this song I hear something new. The most recent epiphany is how the background vocal says, "All you can do is love, and pray" I've always clearly heard the, "all you can do is love" part, but the "and pray" is a new addition.

With these things in mind, go back and listen to the songs, noticing how all of these things help form this trio into a masterpiece. Leave your comments below. I want to know your thoughts and what you hear when you listen to these songs.