Blog 5

Blog 5: Review a selected track of your choice. All genres are welcome. Describe how the music works in terms of its instrumentation, form, use of technology, etc. This entry should be at least 3 paragraphs long.

I want to talk about a song by a band called VersaEmerge called "Theatrics" which is the intro for a song called "The Hider". I only recently became interested in this band, half probably because they have a female vocalist and second, because the guitarists use some cool effects.

The song actually begins with a low drone sound followed by piano playing over the top. There is short pause, the piano drops out and strings come in and play the same melodic lines. Bells are also used for accents. There are also some ticking sounds near the end of the intro, which creates an anxiety and build up for the song to begin.

This is a very smooth build up into the song. I would have normally expected the song to jump right into full gear. The song actually comes back down and starts with soft vocals with more bells. Electronic drums come in the background to start building the song back up for the rest of the band to come in.

The band come back in full force with a very cool lead line. The lead guitar uses some effects to make a the tone very smooth, almost keyboard like. The bands also come in on the chorus which is a powerful effect.

A verse comes next which again involves an awesome guitar effect. The guitarists uses a fast delay and palm mutes on the strings to make it very staccato. The drummer also uses a dance type beat with an open hi hat. There is a prechorus and then another chorus.

After the chorus is a solo section with the guitar doing a short and simple lead line. Vocals come back in for a bridge section with keyboards in the background to change things up a little. The band then drops out except for the lead line and vocals for the first two measures of the chorus. This effect is also used in dance music to create strong dynamics. There are also backing vocals that act like a synth pad in the background.

The vocalist has a very strong voice, but I also thing the song writing is strong as well. The lead guitarists uses lots of cool delay effects through the other songs as well. Synths are also present in many other songs. In my opinion, Versaemerge really stands out in this style of music. They are a newer band, so we will see where they go.