today I'm breaking down two songs by
lunatic Soul which is the side project
of the lead singer and basist of
Riverside they're from Poland I actually
don't know Riverside but I have heard
some of lunatic Soul before and one of
the songs I'm analyzing today is one of
those songs so I'm really excited about
it I'm going to go in the order that
these were released so we're going to
start with Summerland Summerland
Summerland and then go to gutter
which and that's the key of the first
song so thank you so much Milo this is
really cool it's kind of folky it's a
little bit atmospheric it's got some
really like some nice drums that you can
sink your teeth into but it's not so
heavy into the Rock side of things and
thanks to my Patron for commissioning
this video I think it's going to be a
real treat for everyone so let's get
started first Summerland
[Music]
okay already so good right very
atmospheric and mystical I feel like I'm
in an enchanted forest and I like it so
there's some piano let's figure that out
a sep Dorian sound and Dorian totally
matches that magical forest it's such a
beautiful it's kind of a dark scale but
it also has like light shining through
and that's this note the six
note that one
so piano has this really nice riff at
the bottom that's like um
um approximately and this really uh gets
us into the key that we're in the C and
the little bit of the darkness but it's
Al kind of ambiguous cuz of it the
fourth the fifth and the second that's
and the roote that's really all so we
haven't really tapped into the super
emotional um major and minor qualities
of the scale yet it's almost a blank
slate but it really does anchor you in
like our home base so like no chord
changes here and then the next riff that
comes in you'll hear a lot in the song
which is up here and it's played with
intervals so there's the same note on
the bottom and then the top one is the
one that moves and that creates sort of
the melodic line and it goes
U approximately I might have the Rhythm
a little bit wrong
but and this is describing that Dorian
sound so
beautifully right there and then there
so this is called the sixth and this is
the flat seven and they're a half step
apart and it's like a t part in the
scale and it's only a half step apart so
there's a lot of emotion and magnetism
there and then the drums are really cool
I love how there's um there's kind of a
snare sound but it has this like rolling
kind of sound that I find unusual and
every time it hits I'm like gives me the
Shivers it's beautiful
[Music]
procession in the rain Lely
[Music]
brand everyone cries everyone C or maybe
just
[Music]
pretend oh okay so something I'm
noticing here I think the phrases are
actually elongated and like what is
phrasing exactly I don't know what the
actual definition of phrasing is but the
way I'm using it is that like there's
the time signal signature which is you
know like how many beats are in a bar
but then there's like how many times do
those bars repeat before like a section
ends and the new section begins often
that's like an even number like four or
eight but I think this might be uneven
or maybe it's like six we'll count it
but either way it feels almost like
there's extra bars in the phrase which
makes you kind of have to lean in and
wait a little bit that's something I
didn't expect CU everything else sort of
feels like it's
even phrasing and four four so we'll
figure that out but also I'm noticing
there's a a AC acoustic guitar uh that
is playing I think like the seventh like
a lot of
[Music]
this maybe like that just like a
suspended chord it's really pretty
his Melody is also kind of keeping that
almost folky open sound that this piano
riff is
[Music]
doing it just sounds like a folk song
it's really pretty there's a little bit
of a chord movement here
um to the flat seven chord which is just
the one right below our home base so it
doesn't have anything in common with
home but it is nearby so it's a very
natural place to go and it creates a
nice bold
[Music]
sound oh it's your Big Moment by the
[Music]
way okay there was a four
chord hold the hard
in that they were your best
friends
[Music]
okay ah cool so it feels more like to me
that like they have a bar of four then
they have a bar of two and then they
have a bar of four so there's almost
like this uh he you could either think
of it as a hesitation or a preemption
there's like a preemption is not a word
is
it sort of like moving moving away
quicker than you expected to something
else I love that did you hear the drums
it's
like and flowers
[Music]
Shaker and here kind of an extra
[Music]
bar that's the Dorian
[Music]
spot so the Dorian progression that
lives in my head all the time is this
one
it's just really really compelling like
Wicked Game and mad world they use that
progression so great so I love how they
kind of waited to give that to you until
the second repetition in the
verse there's that piano PRI right
would remember what you said when I
looked into I the
[Music]
time I know you're not quite
[Music]
ready so there's the chorus and you
probably heard that there's some really
interesting stuff in there there was
some chromaticism that I wasn't
expecting and there's also my favorite
functional cord which is it's not a sexy
name I'm sorry but it's called The Flat
6 and it's all over my channel because
it's just so incredible and it seems to
be universally loved right before it
we're
playing what's cool about it is that
right before it they're playing the four
chord and then go to the flat six which
is not really related to the four chord
and it's major
status and this movement I've learned is
called a chromatic median and it is
amazing it's so
dramatic so there's chromaticism in the
movement
here that's why I wasn't expecting that
but I always welcome a flat six and then
I think there's a c
chord right before they return to the C
sharp so that's the chromaticism
there really dark sounding
actually and I also think the phrasing
is elongated or pushed and pulled a
little
bit beautiful high upper
filtering syn's maybe
pads man I'm obsessed with
that in a waiting room still life in a
frame nice at the end of
the
scre I love how they brought in the
drums
like where they did it felt sort of like
not where I'd expect them to come in so
a lot of little unexpected entrances
exits
phrasing ear candy and cord changes to
keep you it's like even though folk
music feels very familiar
the way they're implementing it
[Music]
doesn't oh it's your big Moon by the
way would you like to tell him
something do you remember what you said
when I looked into your eyes for the
first time
[Music]
I know you're not quite ready
[Music]
yet cool it might take me a little while
to actually like get the hang of the
movement but the chorus it kind of feels
like maybe it starts here cuz they're
they're in the verse they go
so that's that flat six and then
surprise to C and then C but not for
long but then we're here again and they
stay here for a while definitely this
chord has more weight than the
others
[Music]
something and then I think from here
they go go back
[Music]
down yeah yeah yeah yeah so his Melody
kind of follows those chords including
the the chromatic one that you don't
expect this is the
beautiful lusion to that four that
Dorian sound to the dramatic flat six
and
kind of a harmonic minor situation
here but we're back here but not for
long we stay here and then we
go and then I think here and then back
here so pretty and his voice is so
beautiful I think he's mostly double
tracked which maybe maybe that's like a
folky thing to do but I do feel like
I've heard it a lot like Scarboro fair
is double tracked and it creates this
almost like Smooth silvery sound when
you sing in a kind of a breathy
way
[Music]
okay that is that a guitar or Bass
[Music]
a lot more of
a this guitar or base has a lot of
subdivision
rhythms so that it feels like it's
quickening now this cor
progression this chord progression is
mostly handled by like the the
descending Baseline one
and then down to the four so we hit flat
six on the way which is
fantastic I'm kind of hearing parallel
thirds
here kind of hearing like
approximately and then it breaks into
the flat
six and ends on the
four back
home and those vocal harmonies I think
he does it again so we can break him
down
again no actually I don't think he does
one more time then
[Music]
so this must be him singing it sounds
almost like a
[Music]
pad oh my
[Music]
God I love that
it's
gorgeous
tension the
nice now it feels like a book end
[Music]
yeah give me all the progressive folk
you got that song was from their debut
album uh lunatic soul in 2008 this next
song gutter which is the one I already
know is from their 2014 album walking on
a flashlight beam this one has a sick
like base breakdown
[Music]
Shaker on this one also they CW out from
the pade through my
door Flo the
hway slowly BL into the
walls some intricate base stuff going on
but the overall thing I'm hearing is the
B and the C
and then he comes in with
this right that has a delay on it and I
love that note it's kind of an unstable
note in the scale which is the
[Music]
fourth and it gives it this mystical
sound but this gives it a really dark
sound because this reminds me of frian
which has this real really heavy low
flat
to we have a
Shaker so we know it's in
four and the rhythm of the Bas gives you
kind of a
syncopated almost little bit poly
rhythmic so all of this is pulling us in
and it also has almost a restrain
feeling like something is going to
explode out of this or it's going to
grow into something
so I guess the guitars and bass
are kind of in
unison they craw out from the
do pade through my
door Flo in the
hallway slowly blood into the
wall so he starts singing and he sounds
floaty so it's perfect because talking
about these creatures that are hiding in
the dark but floating around and so the
darkness is handled down here and he's
representing the floating that's kind of
how it feels to me this
[Music]
melody nice leaning on that tension
sorry we're in B
okay that's a flat six
[Music]
note oh there's a pattern so
[Music]
the fifth then Flats
in then flat seven so there's kind of
this almost like he keeps reaching up
higher and higher in his Melody up the
scale that's the tension of the flat
seven resting on that fourth again and
then and then finally
resolution it's so
[Music]
haunting
ooh
ooh very
[Music]
dissonant that
yeah so these ethereal vocals and the
note choices he made definitely put me
on edge like you know if I if I didn't
already feel like something's crawling
out of the gutter now I do so I heard
[Music]
like I think that's
yeah mhm
if I were to try to put that all on a
scale it wouldn't really work out it's
just think of it more as chromatic and
uh sort of working against
everything okay hand symbols maybe love
that
sound really nice rhythmic
play of my
grief I can hear a whispered sound
feel a cold breath on my
skin here they
come that is so
great here they
come love it to
the it's funny I stopped it right before
he resolves it but he he gives you this
space to be in this unstable place with
them here they
come to assert their
rights sometimes it's good to make the
listener wait or to have to like
actually experience what you've left
them
with more cool
[Music]
percussion Fe is what I need all I need
to
feel I love this chorus it's so
incredibly
beautiful fear is what I need what I
need to
be second time fear is what sorry what I
need what I need to
feel why is this so pretty well first he
goes to this minor for remember the
other song There was a major four chord
cuz it was Dorian well this one's not
going to give you that cushion it's
minor that was
diminished there we go fear is what I
need well first of all the first note he
sings creates this beautiful dissonance
called like a ninth against
what oh man
would I need and that big jump down is
also amazing I need six big interval and
it's just and he has to go to his
falsetto for the I and need for the uh
lower note into to his chest voice so
you get that break what I need what I
need I love that sound then he does
instead of he reverses directions and
moves the Basse down to this chord what
I need but he doesn't play the whole
thing it's mostly just this note what I
need to
feel this is a particular halfstep
resolution in a minor scale or frian or
any of those scales that are really dark
Flat 6 to five like this is in something
I can never hide by Nish Nails it's in
uh Uninvited by at lanis Moret it's in
uh Halloween theme by John Carpenter
it's it's it's it's everywhere because
it's so
powerful uh feel you just feel like that
note has to go down
feel and then the last part of the
[Music]
chorus into
this shades of
bra on my soul
[Music]
obsessed with that part let's look at
the last part of the chorus though
starts again on the four chord so I drag
myself into
this and then get a dominant chord which
is going to be the F sharp
so um so I dragged
myself into this
gut that's so cool because he has to
reach down to sing the first part of
gutter but then the second part is way
up high and I just I don't know
intuitively that feels really
interesting
gutter like you would assume you go like
gutter like it's down down but it's G
and also just switching notes on the
second half of Gutter Gutter of mine
back home with shades of or shades of
prey feed on my
soul okay so this
progression is minor
four five chord but major which is a
harmonic minor
Hallmark and it makes you want to go
back home really
strongly which we do but then we Plum it
down down into the
gutter
sorry one flat 7 flat six and then
continue down to that five chord again
and then we stay here for a while and
what he sings As as we're down here with
him is so
[Music]
cool the major third on the way down
so
then at the end this whole run is
basically half step half step half step
and you heard me talking about those
half steps they are points of magnetism
human beings are very compelled by half
steps half
step half
step half step and that's just the way
this scale works then this amazing riff
which I don't know if I could figure out
all the things about it but
[Music]
wow love how the percussion changes of
the last
[Music]
part like a call response
almost and so I Dr
myself into this
got shades of
bra on my soul
[Music]
the patterns rhythmically are so
satisfying to me it has that poly
rhythmic Feel Again Feeling Again
[Music]
D which
is a for or against
three
sorry and that's on the one
[Music]
um really dark sounding but the second
time he incorporates these little
[Music]
runs I don't have it memorized
unfortunately but we heard how cool that
is the second time they do it he has a
guitar I think harmonizing like a fifth
above it in
parallel that's so awesome
[Music]
oh
oh I always love this part from here to
here
and now I know why it's because this is
this is a major 7th chord and this is a
minor 7th chord so there's a major to
minor switch which is a really cool
mixture but there since there's a fourth
note on it this one this one also goes
down when you go to the minor version so
there's
and or these beautiful half step changes
[Music]
then to a a C
major then to the B wait
[Music]
G
[Music]
God he's just he's like singing into the
changes it's so amazing I love it
I will say this bridge feels like a
momentary relief from the darkness the
pads and also just the tonality the
harmonies the seventh chords they feel
like they're cushioning you and hugging
you and there's not the Bas riff is
still going but everything feels like
it's more floaty and higher and just
more
comforting I love that
too almost reminds me like Tears for
Fears or something some of the the
Harmony and also just the that that
pulse I'm not sure what I'm thinking of
there now we're back to the
[Music]
chorus okay you ready for the bass
breakdown
[Music]
I count this as
five 1 2 3 4 5 1 2 3 4
[Music]
approximately reverse guitars love this
low
growl okay now up to
[Music]
e same
exact uh riff basically
[Music]
H has this new line on top with some
drums luckily he's got the kick drum on
the beats that just kind of keeping us
grounded but it it's really fun because
of the play against that beat
syncopation isn't anything without
something to be syncopated
[Music]
against that tone is so
rattly bites
you offbeat high hats
[Music]
still FR and dominant on this uh guitar
[Music]
solo I love
the yes
[Music]
oh so that's how they transition back
out of it is there's there's a line
almost sounds like a scent that could be
I'm not sure but it
goes all
right so this is the bridge but without
etherial
vocals good way to transition back
just feels like coming out of the gutter
it's like seeing the light
[Music]
I need
[Music]
to Fe is all I need all I need
[Music]
defe and so I Dr
myself into this
God my my shades of
braad on my soul
[Music]
n
[Music]