#NP is a new type of post where we just write our thoughts on whatever song we happen to be listening to at the time. The songs in these posts will be old or new, and any genre goes. This is a way for us to talk about music outside of the fresh stuff we post everyday. Enjoy.
I've been really surprised at the amount of hits Big Two-Hearted's music has gotten on here since their material is kind of challenging. At the same time, I'm sure a lot of you have listened to their stuff and been like "WTF is this?" So I want to try and explain what I like about their music. Ever since these guys started making music their sound has been evolving, partly because they didn't know how they wanted to sound and partly because they wanted their music to come from a more unconscious place. Big Two-Hearted try to create music organically, as in they sit down to record a song with no previous ideas of what it's going to sound like or even what the melody will be, and then they just let whatever happens happen. Their sound has evolved from very abstract, ambient tracks to more beat-based tracks that have some hip hop influence, and they've thrown a few curve-balls too. And while their songs require more attention, and more time because they tend to be above the six-minute mark, they have a way of drawing you in and communicating a certain feeling without any lyrics.
This track is the best example of that and probably the best synthesis of everything they've done as a band since the beginning. The intro makes use of a cell-phone recording, something they've been doing since their earliest songs (which were recorded on a Blackberry), and through that it immediately takes you to another place when you listen to it. The song is called "Close Your Eyes" and if you, as the duo instructs on soundcloud, "do what the title says" when you listen to it, then you can easily envision yourself in the same place as where that recording was taken. All you hear is the ambient sounds around you--the church bells, the cars driving by--and a tiny little synth that plays around a little bit before settling into the melody. Then it pulls a trick on you; the recording drops out at the exact moment the synth starts playing the main melody, and it forces you to pay ridiculously close attention to the music. Then, over 8 minutes, the song opens up to include marching snares, deep bass, synth arpeggios, and many more unique sounds. With each new sound that's brought in, the song gets bigger and more expansive until it seems impossibly huge. Soon comes a fade-out that's just as rewarding as the build up. When it's all said and done, 8 minutes have gone by and you're left with a feeling you didn't have before--the exact one they wanted you to feel. It's kind of impressive.
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