AUD210 Critical Analysis 3

Posted on by isaacnichol

Shaun Frank & KSHMR – Heaven (feat. Delaney Jane)

This is one of four blogs which will individually include the analysis of four electronic tracks, these will cover Learning Outcomes 1, 9, 12, and 21.

Song Name – Heaven
Producers – Shaun Frank & KSHMR
Artist – Delaney Jane
Album Name – Heaven (Single)
Mood – Deep and Uplifting
Tempo – 126
Time Signature – 4/4

Context
The song I have decided to analysis in my third case study is an original track ‘Heaven’ by two DJs Shaun Frank and KSHMR, this track was signed by Spinnin’ Records and released on the 19th of October. Heaven fits the genre of Future House which is a sub-genre of house, which is originally known for its off-beat hi-hats and synthesised bass-lines. House itself has been around since the early 1980s where Future House was simply a ‘futuristic’ implementation of the original sound, this new era within the edm industry was successfully developed in 2010 by contributing artists such as Tchami and Oliver Heldens. 

Genre/Influences

The sub culture of House music was highly influenced by the UK Rave seen in the 1990s. “Rave’s transformation of club culture turned it into a global force that influences just about every other pop genre. ” (Mugan, 2012)

Rave music in the 90s was a sub cultural backlash against mainstream society. “It infuriated the establishment, especially the Conservative government that concocted the Criminal Justice and Public Order Act that infamously legislated against “repetitive beats”.  (Mugan, 2012)

  • Rave culture is a form of expression, which is a mix of passion, creativity and community which has continued to expand thanks to ‘Chemical Love’ i.e Ecstasy.  (Mugan, 2012)

The overall aesthetics which I have noticed predominantly in Future House music is it’s unique originality strongly found within the layering of the synths & leads and rich sounding vocals, Shaun Frank and KSHMR have created a piece of music which fits this analogy. Shaun Frank classifies himself as Future House where KSHMR represents himself with Electro House, overall this track has a combination of all house genres to create a Futuristic Progressive House sound. Tchami talks about what Future House is in an interview: “It has never been about to launch a new genre. I guess people loved it and made it a new genre.” (Stoney Roads, 2015)

The upbeat tempo, catchy melodies, dynamic ranges between breaks and chorus’ really represent its key musical attributes.

Sonic Characteristics of Future House:

  • Sharp sounding hi-hats, punchy claps & snares, heavy-metallic sounding leads, off-beat melodic structure which overall gives a bouncy feel. (Gyro-robo, 2015)

House was re-embarked with this influenced which many producers now class as Future House, the attempt of the sound was different artists such as Tchami who took influence from deep house and implemented it into a ‘futuristic’ version of what everyone knew as deep house and house. Tchami says this: “Future house was not meant to be that narrowly oriented of an idea, he explains. In my mind, future house was meant to be ‘any kind of house music that hasn’t been invented yet.” (Thump, 2015)

Vocals

The vocals in Heaven were sung by Delaney Jane, a well-known singer from Toronto. Delaney’s lyrics that she wrote for the track in my opinion strongly fit the general context of Future House, her rich and gentle voice adds a very beautiful touch to this overall mix. The processing that was used on the vocals was quite simple, there is a reverb which has a medium room size with around a 1.5s decay on it and there is also a delay plugin which has the wet turned down to not reveal to much but just add to the silky rich sound which Delaney’s vocals have produced. 

The meaning of the lyrics are very love sick, it seems like Delaney and her partner have been having multiple fights and she still needs him even when she pushes him away. Throughout the pre-chorus there is a delay envelope which occurs at the set of 8 beats, and this really justifies what her vocals and lyrics are bringing to the overall mood of the song.

Here is a line of the vocals in verse 2, “I know that I don’t always treat you right but I need you to know I’ve been bruised, got these demons that I try to hide I don’t wanna go facing them alone without you”. I believe here she is really admitting what she has done wrong and the reason to behind why she has been doing it, she has a deep love for her lover and just wants to get through the fights. There is also different sections within the pre chorus, chorus and outro where it is most distinguishable that Shaun Frank & KSHMR have added ‘vocal chops’, the specific sample i’m mentioning has been pitched an octave higher to again reiterate the point to what is being said in her lyrics.

“Even, Even hell feel like heaven, Even hell feel like heaven, Even hell feel like heaven with you.” These lyrics are from the pre-chorus and backs up what I mentioned about the 8 bar delay which occur on the words ‘even’, ‘heaven’ and ‘heaven’ the third one being the one which has been sampled and pitched an octave higher.

Read more at: http://limitlesslyrics.com/shaun-frank-kshmr-ft-delaney-jane-heaven-lyrics/

Instruments
Percussion/Drums – In Heaven the clap which they have used is very significant in the mix and punches through nicely, the ‘punchiness’ in the kick and the layered snare which lies under the clap, this adds thickness as well as a ‘fatter’ clap. The hi-hat which is used also highlights to the off-beat groove provided with house music, there is also small samples like a tambourine which sits very high in the spectrum around 2-10khz and this comes in the 1st & 2nd chorus. These instruments align with the sonic characteristics that are used within Future House. The amounts of reverb used on each of these drum & percussion instruments is very small, this adds to the overall clean and punchy feel to what future house will provide to the listener. The kick has a equaliser on it and has a lot of ‘punch’ added to it, this can be achieved by raising bands around the 800-2khz area on the frequency spectrum. 

Leads, Bass and Keyboard – There is 3 different basses which Shaun and KSHMR have used with Heaven, the most noticeable bass is used at the started of the chorus and imitates the sound of someone saying ‘wow’. The sound of this bass was achieved by the use of a filter automation and then changing the attack on the envelope, this is called subtractive synthesis. The other bass was layered in the main melody played within the chorus, this layer was the underlying layer which dwelled around 80hz-600hz. This bass layer then obviously has a layer on top of that which sounds like a metallic and percussive synth sitting in the mix from around 400hz-5khz, so you could say this overall lead is very warm and most of the ‘guts’ of the lead comes from the 400hz-1khz area across the spectrum. Within the track Heaven there are two keyboards, the chord progression is strongly driven by the first keyboard which imitates a Grand Piano and this consists throughout the verses’ and pre-chorus’. The other keyboard is used during the chorus and imitates a ‘UK Dance Piano’, this layer is very noticeable spreading across the spectrum (100hz-10khz) and sits on top of the main melody within the second half of the first chorus and the whole second chorus (Comes in 1:04). I believe this is also an example of Future House’s style of instrumentation or sonic characteristics.

It sounds like Shaun and KSHMR have successfully layered both these leads, the UK Dance layer and the Percussive synth layer by equaliser each one to blend with the other. For example, it sounds like the percussive layer is very rich in the frequencies around 500hz-1k and 2k-3khz meaning that to be able to successfully blend them they would pulled out those frequencies from the UK piano and then pulled out the opposing frequencies from the percussive layer. 

Conclusion:
In conclusion I found Heaven by Shaun Frank and KSHMR is very well produced and the overall idea contributed by both producers as well as Delaney Jane is an astonishing track that upholds unique aesthetics and shines brightly within the revolution of Future House. 

References

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