Prisco !1 Nicole Prisco Performing Arts in Western Civilization December 2013 - Sophomore Year Professor MacFarlane Eclectic Analysis of “No Children” by The Mountain Goats Historical Background: The Mountain Goats, led by John Darnielle were formed in 1991 in Claremont, California. Even though the band’s name suggests multiple members, for a time, Darnielle wrote and performed solo. He provides the writing, music, guitars, piano, and vocals for the band. When The Mountain Goats first formed, they were known for their low quality recordings; often Darnielle would record on a Panasonic boom box which would produce cassette recordings. From 2002 onward, the band switched to a more modern approach recording their albums in studio with a full band. Currently, the band is based in Durham, North Carolina. The band’s name derives from the song “Big Yellow Coat” by Screamin’ Jay Hawkins (lyrics: Fifty million bulldogs, Twenty mountain goats, All gathered 'round at sundown, To see my yellow coat). The band is currently signed to Merge Records, record label of the band’s drummer Jon Wurster of the 90’s band Superchunk. Although Darnielle has surrounded himself with many musicians that have contributed to The Mountain Goats, he alone remains the most important and interesting member. He was born on March 16, 1967 in Bloomington, Indiana, but grew up in California to a very abusive step father. His relationship with his step father is referenced multiple times in The Sunset Tree. He Prisco !2 chose to work as a psychiatric nurse at the Metropolitan State Hospital in California after he graduated high school. While he was living there, he would often play his songs on his guitar and use his boom box to record music. After his time as a nurse, Darnielle went on to receive his Bachelor’s degree in English at Pitzer College. While in college, he asked his friend Dennis Callaci of Shrimper Records to help release a cassette of his songs. This sparked the birth of The Mountain Goats. Darnielle has been writing and composing ever since. Tallahassee marked a big shift for The Mountain Goats. It is their 7th full length album in a discography that spans 14 full length albums, numerous singles, EPs, Cassettes, and collaborations. Released in 2002, Tallahassee was their first studio recorded album and the first to be released on a well known British indie label, 4AD. Prior to this album, Darnielle provided most of the instrumentation with other supporting instrumentalists. On Tallahassee, Darnielle, who plays guitar, vocal, bells, keys, xylophone, harmonica is joined by Peter Hughes on bass, guitar, harmony vocal, drums, keys, shaker, Franklin Bruno who plays guitar on "See America Right," piano on "Have to Explode" and "No Children”, and Michael Ivins who plays tambourine on "Southwood Plantation Road. The album was produced at Tarbox Studios in Cassadaga, New York by Tony Doogan and aided by Michael Ivins, a member of The Flaming Lips. “No Children” uniquely touches upon the failure of a marital relationship; something that has become very relevant in this day and age. At the time that Tallahassee was recorded -the early 2000s - the divorce rate in the United States was 4.2 out of 1,000 people. Presently, the divorce rate in this country is over 50%; which demonstrates a large growth from the numbers in the early 2000s. Although Darnielle has stated that the story of Tallahassee is completely Prisco !3 fictional, it serves to depict the idea of the inescapable outcome of a dysfunctional relationship. The subject of “No Children” and Tallahassee in its entirety is the “Alpha Couple”, two recurring characters in Darnielle’s music. When describing them, he states: “The Alpha couple are these people who get together in California, and they fall in love, but they’re really broken people, and they’re very bad for each other — they’re both big liquor enthusiasts. They move to Las Vegas and live in a motel for a year, out of a sort of romanticized vision of how they’re supposed to live, and things just keep getting worse, so they just flee across the country in the hopes of starting a new life, but they haven’t really thought it through at all. So they get to Tallahassee, and that’s where I always envisioned them falling apart, in some tiny little house” (Splendid Zine 1). Tallahassee acts as a concept album for the “Alpha Couple”, and although they have been referenced in other Mountain Goats material prior to the release of Tallahassee, they have not been exclusively written about since. Open Listening: Instantly, the sound of piano, bass, and guitar resonates. The guitar, incredibly harsh, as if someone is purposely strumming with pressure on the pick. There is a distinct sound of pick hitting steel which provokes a frustrated tone and ambience. Perhaps Darinelle does this to convey the anger and desperation that lie within the lyrics. The bass is the steady foundation of the song while the piano provides the sweet melody. Although the instruments have contrastive qualities, it somehow seems as if they are working together to make the song’s texture less empty, less open sounding. “No Children” has a relatively fast tempo and sounds a little bit like a waltz or jig in compound meter, but the strophe and stress of the lyrics indicate simple meter, most likely 4/4. Prisco !4 Darnielle’s voice enters and it’s incredibly nasally. In Vocal Pedagogy terms, this nasality is due to the air he is using to sing and how it is instantly funneling up to his nose with no vault, height, space, or true vocal resonance. However, the sound is simultaneously smooth sounding. The smoothness distracts the listener from the dark and dense lyrics. Hearing the brutality of the lyrics in a major key is interesting. The intro tricks the listener into thinking that the song will be performed in a minor key, but one can hear the dominant moving to the tonic with the arrival of the first verse which is clearly major. The vocal harmonies seem to emphasizing the hopelessness of the lyrics of the chorus, along with something else that I cannot discern at this point. This work definitely needs further analysis. The purpose of the lyrics are hard to instantly decipher and will need another few listenings to grasp. Syntax: “No Children” is in the key of Db major and in 4/4 time. The form is as follows: Intro | Verse 1 | Pre-chorus | Chorus | Intro | Verse 2 | Pre-chorus | Chorus | Outro The instrumentation of the song : John Darnielle: guitar and vocals Peter Hughes: bass, harmony vocals, drums Franklin Bruno: piano The intro starts out with the piano playing an F minor chord. The guitar follows with an inversion of F minor. The bass is simplistic and plays the root of the chords for the entirety of the song in quarter notes with some non chord tones thrown in to make the line more interesting. The guitar strums in a down, up, up down pattern for the intro. The intro chords change every 2 beats. Prisco !5 From Fmin, we move to Bb, back to Fmin, to Bb again, then to Absus, and a PAC in Db major, Ab-Db. There are no vocals for the intro, only the sound of the instruments. The intro lasts for 4 measures. The vocals enter with the first verse. We are clearly in Db major now, the chord structure is simple, I-V-IV-I, Db-Ab-Gb-Db. It repeats twice with the guitar strumming strongly on each quarter note beat. The pre chorus follows a I-vi-IV-V, Db-Bbmin-Gb-Ab pattern. The guitar strums remain the same with the piano providing secondary melody descending in thirds. The chorus follows a IV-V-I-IV-I-V-I pattern. After the first chorus, the intro repeats twice with the 2nd verse, chorus, and outro following. The outro is similar to the intro, it repeats twice with the same chords and ends with a little PAC extension/coda. The form is expanded ternary. The intro is labeled as the A section, I have grouped the verse, pre chorus, and chorus as the B section, and the outro is the A’ section. Therefore, the song form is A-B-A-B-A’. Sound in Time (Phenomenology): • 0:01- 0:10 - Piano enters and plays a descending melody while guitar seems to float above playing the chords. The bass line moves the song forward. • 0:10-0:22 - Piano becomes less focused. The vocals enter and dominate every other instrument. The volume and nasality of Darnielle makes it harder to focus on the other instruments. The bass keeps our interest; it is louder than the guitar or the piano at this point. • 0:22- 0:34 - Guitar becomes a little louder, gains confidence. Vocal line descends and then rises to emphasize lyrics. Prisco !6 • 0:34- 0:45 - Piano gains importance, ends each measure with a melody that descends in thirds. • 0:45- 1:05 - Vocal harmonies enter with an angelic feel. The harmonies move up and down together, the rise and fall contrasting the bass and guitar. • 1:05- 1:15 - Piano intro repeats again exactly the same as before. • 1:15- 1:27 - The piano fades, but not as much as before in the first verse. With the second verse, the piano builds the smooth texture that makes the vocals less harsh sounding.The guitar continues in stressed strum on each quarter note beat which provides a feeling of frustration. • 1:27- 1:38: The vocals strain a bit as the line ascends.