I am not dodging the 'The Unsmokable Brokes' genre question, but I thought it might be good to preface it by explaining how a song is written, and therefore, trace the origins of their sound. I must also note that I will generalize this process, from my perspective, so it will not be applicable to every song. However, I have witnessed the birth of many the Brokes songs and followed them throughout their development, and I have followed their continuing development. And the process generally is something like this...
A song begins, after an 8-hour work day, in a basement, with an acoustic guitar. Mike opens his notebook filled with worn pages bound by cheap glue, and his spontaneous or recycled reflections from the day to day routine. Words upon words upon words are meticulously spliced together and rearranged, invented when necessary, in the hope of achieving something harmonious.
Chord patterns are then summoned, to give his hands something to do while he thinks. Some come from Will. These are rhythmic transitions from C#m to Asus2 to Bsus2 or G or anything else that fits the key--guitar voices that he stumbled upon some late night in his apartment during a solitary conversation with his Fender Jazzmaster. Other chord patterns come from Mike, himself. These patterns are born out of necessity. They need to exist. Moments, days or even months after their creation, he finds that maybe they were not created in vain. Maybe, there is something beautiful in their existence.
When words are added to chords, the life of the song begins. Mike and Will, together, add layers of intricate guitar riffs, vocal melodies, lines of bass and any other appropriate elements that will make this life one worth living.
The result is a combination of lush layers of sound, lucid lyrical poetry and a child-like appeal that is not far removed from the soothing melody of lullabies. Their songs are intelligent, complex and artistic, yet they do not lose their ability to be sung in the shower or whistled while washing the dishes.
Personally, I have likened their sound, the result of their songs in tandem, to a choir of barking angels. This may be something no one has ever heard, but the words alone create such stirring imagery. The difference is that the Brokes' songs can be heard, and therefore the images are all the more stirring.
3 comments:
This is a very lyrical and informative post. I get a better glimpse inside the Brokes' music-writing process. I would like to know more about what the process is behind the lyrics, too. Or even focus on a specific song that has an interesting story in how the lyrics came together. You have a ton of material to work with for this blog. You can explore almost every element and avenue of your song-writing daily habits.
let's have more!
I always love hearing about how folks write songs. There are so many different ways to go about it. Seems the blokes go from lyrics to music - or vice versa? not sure, but one thing certain is there is no right or wrong way.
Sugartop Records,
You are right to be confused, because it varies from song to song. Basically they look at their collection of interesting lyrics or chord progressions, that they have amassed over time and try to put them together in an interesting way.
There are other ways to though, and I would be interested to find out if one works better than another, but I'm pretty sure there isn't a formula.
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