Enjoy the interval

having a break from big dumb power chords

It’s easy to get stuck in a rut. We can all get happy staying in our comfort zones. I’ve been struggling to write music lately just because I haven’t been trying to do anything beyond the basics.

My son Victor is finding his own way with music at the moment and has developed huge love for those chunky but rich sounds from British indie pop of the ’90s. We’ve had a lot of Radiohead, Blur, Elastica, Supergrass, PJ Harvey and others.

Twang.

I’ve had Brant Bjork and the Operators on repeat in the car (since my Duna CD was found) and found some similarities in the songwriting with Victor’s playlists.

Something you’ll hear in Song 2 or in Connection by Elastica or My Ghettoblaster by Brant Bjork is using that root and fourth interval in place of the so-called powerchord of root and fifth.

This is great with a Rat style distortion and an underbiased fuzz face circuit as it takes on a synth-like quality. The gated signal and square wave tone from the fuzz but with the treble filter of the Rat combine with the slight dissonance of the fourth in the 12 tone equal temperment scale to create a sound similar to the frequency modulation on an 80s analog.

Essentially I’m barring myself from the powerchord and instead aiming to write a series of songs built around showcasing different intervals. I guess time will tell if this helps break out of that rut!