MTNS – Lost Track Of Time
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 – Lost Track Of Time
Producers – Tom Eggert, Joseph Thiang, Robbie Hellberg
Artist – MTNS
Album Name – Salvage EP
Mood – Deep, Relaxed, Slow, Influential
Tempo – 120
Time Signature – 4/4
Context
The song which I am going to analyse in my 4th case study is an original track by a Brisbane trio by the name of MTNS, ‘Lost Track Of Time’ which they released as a single before becoming a part of there first EP ‘Salvage. Their EP along side with Lost Track Of Time was released on Nov 19, 2013, the sound of MTNS fits the genre of Chill Wave which is an era of music highly driven throughout the 2000s influenced from Indie music back from the 80’s. The genre has been successfully being pushed forward by artists such as Washed Out, Toro Y Moi and Neon Indian. Most songs you hear that are classified as Chill Wave have an overall very relaxed and slow feel to it, the genre often implements other sounds as well within the structure to bring new a new ‘wave’ of Chilled Electronic Music. This ‘slow and drifted’ feel is really implemented through the gentle instruments which they include in their mix, for example in Lost Track Of Time the pad which they use has a long attack with a long release which really encourages that slow and ‘drifting’ feeling. MTNS are a new electronic influenced band who had a lot of success after the release of their EP ‘Savage’, their success was highly encouraged by Triple J who also gave a lot of support through interviews and tours.
Genre/Influences
To describe the genre of Chillwave in a emotional sense feels like you are in a dream, this dream is almost like you are flying through a valley or walking through a mysterious but beautiful forest. The genre has been around since the late 1980s and has influences from origins such as electropop, psychedelic pop, lo-fi, new wave, ambient house and indie pop. Chillwave is represented through its use of warm instrumentation, faded soundscapes and dreamy lyrics.
It’s key musical attributes are encouraged by its slow paced feel and by the gently sung vocals, with it’s use of soft keys and pads the sound encourages the relaxing vibe through the use of these instruments.
The instrumentation aligns with genre of Synth Wave by its use of electronic drums, synthesized bass lines, gated reverb and leads which resemble to early aspects back to the 80’s time of Synth Wave. (NOISEY, 2015)
Sub-Culture
The sub-culture of this track has a big influence from the genre of synth wave and pop, the track relates to the structure of a pop where the synth work relates back to the influence of Chill and Synth Wave. The overall characteristics of pop music focuses merely on the satisfaction of the listener, they aim for relational verses and catchy chorus’. P.272 (Everett, 2000) Sub culturally the lyrical content is very much emulating what is happening within the instrumental, the essence of Pop music highly includes the story that’s being told by the singer. Pop music is so well known to sell because of its ability to connect with its listener, this track specifically has a way of connecting to a young audience who are going through trouble with a loved one. P. 508 (Shepherd, 2003)
I believe this track is a very radio friendly track, as well as it being supported by Triple J they have included Pop elements to certify that ‘hook’ to their listener.
Vocals
The vocals in Lost Track Of Time were sung by Tom Eggert, one of the three members within this trio. The vocals within the mix are quite dominant however the dynamics within his vocals and the processing used has made them have a very present place within the spectral view, while they are this loud they still have a very ‘distant’ feel. This ‘distant’ feel sounds like it’s been obtained by their use of spacial processing, delays and reverb.
There are certain sections where the delay has been automated by an envelope in Verse 2 to add to that ‘distant’ feel. Within the Bridge after Verse 2 the producers have used one of the vocal takes and has been auto-tuned, this is a intensional aspect which MTNS added to the track and this occurs when the vocals are saying “How long”.
MTNS answer to question in an interview by ‘aMusicBlogYea’ who asked what the meaning is of their song ‘Lost Track of Time’, “It’s really open to interpretation.” (aMusicBlogYea, 2013) The song seems to have a strong influence coming from relationship issues, between some related to one of the members.
The lyrics are very meaningful especially when the first verse; “I screamed out loud again, But you weren’t there to hear my call, So I climbed into my bed and slept, Slept ’til I could sleep no more.” These lyrics are really describing what he is feeling and what he has mentally gone through with his love for this girl, the overall vibe summarises his ‘Lost Track of Time’. This then relates back to the definition of Chill Wave, where throughout his ‘Lost Track Of Time’ he put it all behind him and the mood represented in this track is a feeling of flying away from all of this.
Instruments
Percussion/Drums – Within Lost Track Of Time the first percussion sample you hear is a ticking sample which seems to imitate the feeling of a clock ‘ticking’. The other percussive instruments included within the track are the kick, snare, tambourine and hi-hat. The ticking sample which brings the song in also drives the song all the way through, this also can refer back to my analysis of the mood of the song which can imitate the feeling of being ‘slow’ by time ticking by.
Chill Wave likes to use punchy drum samples and follow a simple 4/4 beat to make room for other instruments and not complicate the overall mix by to much variety within the drums. The snare fits quite nicely in the mid-range, his kick sits quite low but favors more of the mid-high frequencies to give it more punch.
The tambourine comes in the second chorus which adds on top of the hi-hat which drove the first chorus with the same groove, overall their simple use of drums really helps dwell and stay within that genre of Chill Wave.
Bass, Guitar and Pad – Within the track Lost Track Of Time there is two different keyboards/pads which they decide to use as well as one bass, this synth patch is used to drive the chord progression.
The bass which MTNS have decided is quite distinguishable since it comes at the intro and is an underlying layer which contributes strongly to the overall mix of the track, which in relation to the genre of Chill Wave most songs within this genre have a distinguishable bassline that drives the chord progression. The bass has most of its ‘guts’ at 50hz-200hz, within this area of the spectrum includes the sounds which you would feel if you were standing in front of big sound system.
The guitar which is used within Lost Track Of Time comes in Verse 1 and sits strongly around the mid-high range of the spectrum, the life of the guitar stands out around 500hz-800hz. There is two pads used with Lost Track Of Time, the first one is used within almost all sections of the track except the first half of Verse 2, this pad sounds like a keyboard that has a low-pass filter on it or simply just a bad that has a lot of its ‘guts’ around the 80hz-300hz area within the frequency spectrum.
This pad that MTNS have decided to use is extremely ‘soothing’ and is what brings most of the energy to this track, as it fits the genre Chill Wave this is a common pad which is heard in other songs in the genre. The second pad is much more noticeable in the mix, it covers the frequency spectrum with its main ‘guts’ coming from 500hz-1000khz.
Lead – The lead which is used within Lost Track Of Time comes in both chorus’ and can be achieved in the studio by a sine wave with the adding of an filter envelope and then moving the attack and filter amount to achieve the certain sound, this sound is well known to be used in Chill Wave as it has a very typically ‘wave’ feeling in it. This sound as it is the lead used within the song covers most of the frequency spectrum and part of the envelope involves this sound to imitate a wave when looking at the sound in a spectral viewer, it filters from a low pass and opens up depending on the attack and amount time.
References
Hinkes-Jones, L. (2010). Downtempo Pop: When Good Music Gets a Bad Name. The Atlantic. Retrieved 14 December 2015, from http://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2010/07/downtempo-pop-when-good-music-gets-a-bad-name/59803/
M, A. (2013). Gimme Your Answers: An Interview w/ MTNS. A Music Blog, Yea?. Retrieved 14 December 2015, from http://amusicblogyea.com/2013/09/03/gimme-your-answers-an-interview-w-mtns/
musiXmatch,. (2013). MTNS – Lost Track of Time lyrics | Musixmatch. Retrieved 14 December 2015, from https://www.musixmatch.com/lyrics/MTNS/Lost-Track-of-Time
triple j Unearthed,. (2013). MTNS. Retrieved 14 December 2015, from https://www.triplejunearthed.com/artist/mtns
NOISEY,. (2015). Riding the Cyber Doom Synthwave With Perturbator | NOISEY. Retrieved 18 December 2015, from https://noisey.vice.com/blog/riding-the-cyber-doom-synthwave-with-perturbator
W. Everett, Expression in Pop-rock Music: A Collection of Critical and Analytical Essays(London: Taylor & Francis, 2000), p. 272.
Shepherd, J. (2003). Continuum encyclopedia of popular music of the world.
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