Whispering vocals

I've always been kinda hung up on authenticity and it tends to colour what music I like. I like unusual voices but I turn off if I think the style seems too forced -- like the recent procession of bands with crazy/old man vocals. There's something about singing in your normal voice that seems honest and genuine.

Of course this thinking's rigid and completely self-defeating. What I'm reacting to is probably not aesthetic conceit, but obvious aesthetic conceit; bad craft. Surely there's room to add a bit of colour. Not to mention that when I sing in my normal voice, I feel it's a little bland.

Something else occurred to me as I listened to the halting, whispering vocals of Doveman -- ordinarily I might've started thinking that perhaps the whisper was a little precious. But I remember that when I was trying to learn a new song recently I sung in a whisper 'cause I wasn't sure of the tune and didn't want to loudly commit to the wrong note. When you're using a softer voice, mistakes are less obvious and matter less. So it could be that singing softly allows more creativity. Like using scrap paper instead of a Moleskine journal when you're brainstorming visual ideas.

I started to like the whisper. And why shouldn't it be carried into the final version after the song's been finished? It sounds more interesting anyway.

Write your melody first

A mate of mine Nathan said he got some advice of a songwriter friend of his that you should write the melody for your song first, before you lay down the chords. It's good advice. The reason, I think, is so that your melody is allowed the creative space to develop and become more adventurous without being unconsciously restricted by the confines of a simple chord structure.

This kinda stuck with me because it articulated the problem I could never quite put my finger on, with the songs of many acoustic guitar-wielding singer-songwriters. And mine too I suspect. Often their chord structures are simple (which is fine of course) but then their melodies are also simple; just a sung version of the chords. It just makes for flat; predictable music. I'm not saying following this method necessarily solves the problem, but it might help shakes things up a bit.

Two guitars that sound the same

Normally it seems to make sense for two electric guitars to occupy different parts in the sonic range of a song. For example, one with more of a bassy sound might play sustained chords low down, while the other more trebly guitar might play repeated two-note arpeggios higher up.

But Cruiser by Red house painters ignores all this. It has two guitars sitting at exactly the same trebly level. At times it seems like both guitars are playing two simple parts of a whole, more complex, guitar part. But this structure is only hinted at as the separate parts change and evolve in syncopation and embellishment, at times overlapping and coming together but then moving further away from each other.

The result is a shimmery, off-kilter sound that not even a skillful guitarist could emulate.

Writing less

For ages I had Wordless chorus from My morning jacket in my head. This is a song that really takes the voice as an instrument seriously and allows it to do its own thing a bit and chart a melody separate from the underlying, simple chord structure and the lyrics themselves. Often when I'm writing songs I'll write way too much -- and also the stuff I write has too much of a literal note for word arrangement. I should write less and allow the voice to do more. Let it stretch out some words and part of words and clip others.