Now, I know nobody reads my blog, but I decided to start keeping, for myself mostly, a record of the music I like to listen to, by highlighting a piece or a song or an album every week (ish) that I've listened to and enjoyed. Now, I could probably write a separate blog post every week for about a year on Beethoven's 5th Symphony, since it's my favourite piece of music, ever, in the entire world, period. But that would be boring to read, so I'll pick different things.
This week I've been listening to God Almighty, None Compares by the David Crowder Band, on their Church Music album. This album was released in 2009. I bought it in 2010, and have listened to it often since then. The album itself is fantastic; I highly recommend it. They write interesting music, and put it together in interesting ways. I appreciate that, since I'm easily bored with music, especially 4-chord worship music.
One fascinating thing about the album is that it's continuous. There are no gaps between any of the tracks--and if you put the album on repeat, it loops indefinitely. This does make for some awkward intros and outros to songs if you listen to them individually, but they're cut as well as they could be.
This album is full of fantastic tracks. My favourites are Eastern Hymn; We Are Loved; Can I Lie Here; What a Miracle; and God Almighty, None Compares, but out of the whole album, God Almighty, None Compares is definitely my #1 pick in terms of musicality, lyricism, and sheer enjoyability.
(Disclaimer: I am not a professional musician, nor have I taken many music classes, though I like to read about musical theory occasionally in my spare time. Sorry if some of my terminology is childish.)
This song is divided into two main sections. David Crowder sings in the first part of the song, and the second part of the song is an extended instrumental section that develops the musical themes in the first part.
Part 1 structure: theme 1.1 (6/8), theme 1.2 (4/4), transition (4/4 half-time), theme 1.3 (4/4), theme 1.1, theme 1.2, transition, theme 1.3, theme 1.3
The first thing one notices during part 1 is the time signature changes. The song starts out in a lilting 6/8 signature, the full band joining in to create a melody that feels slow, but full, with building transitions between phrases that add to the full feeling of the song.
Then immediately after the first verse, the band moves to a quick 4/4 rhythm, focused on the melody from the guitar. The second theme uses a half-time section (with the same full feeling as the 6/8 section) to transition to the chorus. The chorus transitions back into a repeat of everything we've heard so far, but adds a few musical touches to develop the themes and build momentum. After the full repeat, the chorus alone repeats once more, and we move to the second part of the song, where the real magic happens.
Part 2 structure (all in 4/4): intro, theme 2.1, theme 2.2, theme 2.1, theme 2.1, theme 2.2, outro
There aren't any lyrics in part 2, nor are there any time signature changes--but part 2 manages to captivate even more fully than part 1. The intro, coming out of the repeat of the chorus in part 1, is a set of long whole notes from the guitars. The drums kick us into the first theme, establishing the basic music that will develop later. Theme 2 opens with a series of sharp chords, interrupting the steadiness of theme 1 with drama and conflict.
Theme 1 comes back with a rebuttal, developing the basic melody of the piece with overlaying notes from the guitar soloist. Once this repeat is over, it repeats theme 1 again, further developing the melody to defend itself from theme 2.
Theme 2 returns with a vengeance, but now theme 1 is strong enough to fight back, and after a short, intense struggle for a couple measures, the themes combine to resolve into one of the best-built-up musical climaxes I've ever heard.
The outro, which feels much less like an outro than like a much-needed breath after the previous drama, takes a few quiet phrases to transition into the next song--as you remember, there's no gap between God Almighty, None Compares, and the next song.
Now that we've gone over the structure, I'd like to say a few things about the key and the lyrics of the song. This song is in the key of B minor. Generally, minor key = sad song. Not in this case. In this song, a minor key is a key choice to facilitate the melody and other musical choices. In fact, on the first listen-through, if you're not accustomed to listening for the key, you may think it's actually in a major key, because you're not left with any sad feelings, like with most minor songs.
The lyrics add to this effect. The message of the song is typical for a worship song, celebrating God's majesty and might. The lyrics of the verse:
"Glory and honour, wisdom and power
Grace and fury, splendour and might
Oh you are splendour and might
Matchless beauty, endless light"
Standard fare for a worship song, for sure. However, the words were chosen for how they sound with the music, not solely for the purpose of conveying a message. David Crowder uses his voice as an additional instrument. He adds a subtle harmony over most of what he sings, to add yet another layer of instrumentation to the music. Even the meanings of the words add to the feeling of grandeur that saturates the full song.
That's the beauty of this song. It was written carefully, with extreme consideration to detail. Every part of this song contributes to the musical themes and their resolution. Every musical choice adds to the dynamics of the themes and their relationships to each other.
Conclusion: this is an awesome song. You should go listen to it right now. And now that I've listened this song on repeat for about two hours in order to write this post, I'm going to stop procrastinating and start in on all the reading I have to do for next week.
