A trend I’ve noticed in rock is to bring the bass closer to the surface, almost as if to use it as the riffing instrument instead of the guitar. As a guitarist, I might be partially opposed to this on principle. But as an electronic composer, I don’t see the big difference besides timbre. I’m all for riffing with the bass. Bass has a little more weight to it, so I think it’s a bit shocking to hear it take real melody lines– by that I mean not just contrapuntal figures, but the primary melody. I think this shows creativity on the part of musicians today.

I didn’t get into recording recently with this production concept in mind, but it has crept in. The Can’t Wait verses have an almost exaggerated bass riff that might be overboard in theory…but I just like it so damn much. Music I’ve heard that turns up the bass has usually turned down the guitar, which makes sense in the interest of simplifying. I may push this threshold. There’s no reason, I feel, to dumb things down. It may be easier for listeners to have only 3-4 parts to take in. But I don’t think that’s a good enough reason to not write more.

This gets into a running bar debate I’ve had over the last few years. I find the main distinction in musical forms today to be one of lushness vs. minimalist. To take a rock example, in the lushness camp you have Radiohead and Interpol. In the minimalist one, you have the White Stripes. It’s interesting to try to discern motives. But I think if you proceed from the premise that these artists maintain independence, you’d have to conclude these contrasting styles of production are simple expressions of what they feel needs to be in the songs.

I might say Zen Luck Tricks is an active minimalist. My setup and style tend towards the more spartan approach. But there are some densities. I don’t anticipate doing a whole lot of layering, say along the lines of Kill Hannah. My jazz background seems to compel me to think in terms moving harmonies.

On my next project I’ll probably take greater liberties with adding and subtracting. What will be most interesting then is to see what survives from now, because a new style for me is coalescing around these arrangements. Can’t Wait transformed over the past two weeks right before my eyes into something that was more Zen Luck Trick-ish, as if to really drive home exactly what I’m hearing.

I’m reminded of a music researcher who’s name and works I’ll have to look up and link to. He studies how the brain interprets pitches and timbre, and he’s argued that pop music is more about sound than about the elements of music. That probably sounds obvious to a lot of people. But those of us who studied music academically tend to think– overthink, that is– that those elements intellectually are the foundations. If sound is what is truly most attractive, then we’d have to re-think some of this.

I’m going on record as calling myself a “soundwriter.” I haven’t googled it, and millions of others might be using the term. But it describes to me a state closer to the goal…