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diff --git a/docs/music/clancy_review.md b/docs/music/clancy_review.md index d4f95d4..1cd10a7 100644 --- a/docs/music/clancy_review.md +++ b/docs/music/clancy_review.md @@ -1,6 +1,6 @@ # Review of _Clancy_ (2024) -Last Updated 2024-03-31 +Last Updated 2024-06-17 ## Overcompensate @@ -109,3 +109,396 @@ obscene margin. I hope they die. Here's hoping my luck works out on April 2. I hope it's less than $100, but at this point it's not really about cost. + +## Brief intermission: end of semester + +So I guess I wrote this on 2024-03-31: + +> - Despite probably intended to resonate with students, it did not +> resonate with me because I'm doing pretty ok this semester and am not +> contemplating suicide no thank you will check back when i need it + +This did not age well. + +Later on, the triplet of EECS courses nearly killed me (see [Winter 2024 +wrapup](../umich/w24_wrapup.md)). It's the most "Next Semester" moment, as +this line repeated in my head: + +> Can't change what you've done +> Start fresh next semester + +## Backslide + +Oddly poppy. Lots of Asian influences. Like the flutes in the verses and +zither-like riff at the end. The zither, as Paul Meany revealed, was +actually a chopped-up sample of the muted piano in another WIP track. He +nailed the feel though. + +Musically, there was nothing remarkable. Lyrically, there was nothing +remarkable. Apparently the title "Backslide" has biblical origins, but +I couldn't care less. What I assume it means is a relapse into some old +bad habits. + +In a line Tyler discussed how he regretted making "Saturday" on _Scaled +And Icy_ (2021). Back then he described it as a "bop" (it is). Poppiest +song on the record, climax of chill-ness. I do not know the reason why he +regrets it now, nor do I care. Artists change their minds, and set +different standards, and I'm the victim of the inferiority complex that +interferes with my music making. + +Last year I made a song, [This Song Will Uncure Your +Depression](uncure-your-depression.md). I never listen to it. The +unhealthy tendency to compare my work to those produced in a studio has +made it very hard for me to appreciate my own music. Because I made it, +I know how far it is from what I wished it sounds like. + +I wish some day I could be proud of a song I made. + +The selling point of the song is its MV. Josh Dun directed it. It's part +of the plan to shoot one MV for each one of the songs, set to be released +on the same day of the album, which was a late decision that postponed the +release date by a week. + +I bet the boys are having fun coming up with all sorts of crazy shit. In +"Backslide", Tyler bought bread buns, ate some, traded one for a cup of +lemonade, littered all over the street while riding a bicycle, and got +showered in rain and leaves. When he got home, Josh was grilling beef as +Tyler dumped the bag of soggy bread on the pavement. + +He is a menace to society. + +## The Craving (Single Version) + +Love song for Jenna. Watched the MV but not sure who directed it. + +Tyler strummed a few spicy chords on the ukulele, which reminds me of the +"Trees" performance on the variety stream for Vessel's 10th anniversary. + +Josh's drums, on the contrary, is always upbeat in Shy Away style. I was +expecting a half-speed meter drop where the snare hits every other fourth +instead of eighth, but it never happened. He just balling. + +Apparently people are already spotting _Clancy_ in record stores who did +not remember the postponed release date. Good for them. + +The reason behind the postponed date may have been Billie Eilish's _Hit Me +Hard And Soft_. + +Tangent: If I had a nickel every time an artist stylizes track titles in +all caps and mentions the French word "vie", I'd have two. + +## Album dropped! + +On 2024-05-24, the first thing I saw when I opened YouTube was the +official audio for "Paladin Strait". I checked further, and all 13 tracks +dropped. Living in UTC+8, I was hours ahead of the America folk. + +But then I remembered that the music videos weren't out yet. So I waited +until 11:45 when they began a music video premiere stream. I watched every +one of them, although internet was kinda wacky and some were glitchy. + +So, what's new? + +## Track-by-track + +### Midwest Indigo + +Another school-themed song about going home over winter break. I can +confirm that winters in the midwest are, indeed, cold. The music video +features Tyler skating on a frozen lake while playing bass. Josh, as +usual, drums, also on the lake. I love how Tyler had to sit on the cargo +bed of the pickup truck because Josh is in the cabin with his dog Jim in +the passenger seat. + +The synth is chiptune-ish. Vessel-like. + +The drums are _fast_. I tapped on my metronome, and the backbeat (snare +hit) comes at 116 bpm — even faster than "Shy Away" (96 bpm). It might be +the fastest song in terms of drums, until I counted "We Don't Believe +What's On T.V." (120 bpm). + +### Routines In The Night + +Despite some fans' speculation that the song was about Jenna and Tyler's +"routines", it's actually about bad dreams. I've had dreams where I killed +my grandfather by accident and then I died, so it's relatable. + +The piano outro reminds of me "Serendipity" by Vincent Rubinetti, from +_The Music of 3Blue1Brown_. + +The music video features Tyler and Josh roaming around in a house and +performing in random rooms. They literally moved Josh's drums everywhere. + +### Vignette + +Finally, tøp wrote a song about zombies. I thought this was a MCR thing. + +The "crash cymbal + kick four times" thing reminds me of "Whatsername" by +Green Day. + +Tyler's falsetto is amazing. The synth solo might be better if it was +Tyler shredding his guitar, but I like the way it is given how cheesy and +cliché guitar solos can sound. + +No idea why Tyler felt the necessity to comment "denial" after "no no not +me it's for a friend". It might be he's aware that he's in denial. + +The video features Tyler sketching out Josh's face on the snow. Josh, as +usual, drums. + +### The Craving (Jenna's Version) + +The night before the album dropped, I had an unpleasant conversation with +my parents, in which they talked about the struggles of maintaining their +marriage, and it involved an outbreak of emotions. This conversation +totally changed the vibe of the song. + +The difference between Jenna's version and single version is that this one +is acoustic, just Tyler and his baritone ukulele. And that made it even +sadder. That also makes it the first completely drumless track since +"Truce", the ending track on _Vessel_ (2013), or the third of all time. + +The video for the single version is Tyler decorating a bullet and Josh +carving a wooden box for the bullet. They present them to a guy with +a rifle, who misses the flying target. It's about work and devotion ending +up in waste, which has a lot in common with my mom's words. + +Jenna's version is just clips of her and Tyler on Josh's phone, taken over +the years, probably before they had children. + +The most sentimental track on the record. + +### Lavish + +"The Craving" sets a sensitive, mellow mood, and "Lavish" totally kills +it. It is rumored that every band has at least one song about a luxurious +lifestyle (cue P!ATD). + +If you showed me the lyrics I'd be like, nah, no way it's tøp. Like what +the fuck. These lines got me like 💀💀💀 + +> Keep it cool, keep the mood androgynous +> I see your problem is your proctologist +> Got both hands on your shoulder while you're bottomless + +This song has nothing to do with the lore. No way the bishops had +a proctologist… + +The video features the bois riding around town dressed in suits in a limo. +I guess some dreams came true? + + + +### Navigating + +Finally we know what's the sound at the beginning of the "Next Semester" +video. The track sounds like retropop. The bridge acknowledges that +everybody dies, which made me ponder for a while. + +Similar to "Routines In The Night", Tyler is "navigating his head". I find +it interesting that he used this metaphor twice. + +The video is the one of the only two (except possibly Paladin Strait, +we'll see) in lore. In a typical configuration, Tyler plays bass and Josh +drums in front of a fire. + +### Snap Back + +I'm sorry, but this is the weak track of the album. The meaning is clear +though. It's about breaking a streak and losing progress, and references +backslide. It's pessimistic. + +It's the third time Tyler got a haircut in a music video ("Car Radio" and +"Levitate" being the first two) and honestly he looks better before the +haircut. Also, I can't really tell if he's clothed underneath his barber +gown. + +### Oldies Station + +It starts off like a happy commercial jingle, but the chorus and bridge +hit hard. The track is about "pushing on through" depression and +hardships. It's like a response to "Snap Back", only more optimistic. + + + +It's the second time Josh was coerced into forced labor for a video shoot. +He had to constantly carry PVC pipes to keep the camera rig rolling on +a plank for the video, and this one is thus his least favorite. The camera +guy ended up falling down a cliff, and Josh just… drums over his dead +body?? + +### At The Risk Of Feeling Dumb + +Starts off like circus music, but I feel it's the most serious song on the +record. It tells you to check on your friends' mental health, no matter +what they say — even at the risk of feeling dumb. + +It's also the track that "sounds like them" and "feels like them". They +spread a message, like "Neon Gravestones". The strongest track, and +energetic as well. + +The video features Josh drumming in the most random places. The album +features Josh drumming in random places, sure, but out of 21 that +I counted, this video has six (the last six): + + + +One of my favorites. + +### Paladin Strait + +Paladin Strait is a fictional place in the Dema lore. If you cross it, you +reach freedom. + +I expected a gentle drumbeat that gradually rises into the climax, just +like the closing track "Leave The City" from _Trench_ (2018), but it was +upbeat and "Level Of Concern"-like. However, it only lasted two sections +before the drums stopped, before catching on at a slower meter. Epic is +the only word I had in mind. It reminds me of their closing track on +shows, "Trees". + +This is the longest song they have ever made, lasting 6:28, although one +minute was just bird noises. (Even longer than "Taco Bell Saga" on Tyler's +solo project, _No Phun Intended_ (2008).) Not gonna spoil the song, but +the plot twist at the end was bone chilling. + +## Overall + +_Clancy_ took elements from all the records they've made, yet sounds +different from any of them. The departure is real. + +### Song structure + +All the songs have a clear hook, and most have an "above-ground", +danceable feel to it, as opposed to the deep, repressed, underground +_Trench_ sound. It feels like Clancy is finally out, free, chilling with +the banditos. + +Out of 13 songs, 5 begin with the chorus, which is supposed to be +a reasonable amount compared to 4 out of 14 from _Trench_, but I just +don't feel this way. I feel _Clancy_ has a much stronger emphasis on the +hook, or motifs, in every song. The good thing is they're coherent and +short, and might get more radio time. The bad thing is the lack of +structural diversity. + +Notable "diverse" tracks on _Trench_: + +- "Levitate" is just nonstop rapping +- "Chlorine" has an extra slower section at the end + +Notable "diverse" tracks on _Clancy_: + +- "Overcompensate" has long intro and interpolates "Bandito" +- "Paladin Strait" is made up of two parts + +I was hoping for time changes and tempo changes, but all I got is a time +change in "Overcompensate". "Oldies Station" seems to feature mixed 2/4 +and 4/4 in the chorus though. Sadly, no odd time signatures. + +### Sounds + +Compared to prior albums, _Clancy_ is very heavy on synth; the dominant +example is the synth solo on "Vignette". I can imagine Paul Meany working +day and night on these. As usual, Paul pulled an awesome job. When I saw +his name in the "Producer" field I knew it can't be bad. + +There was no crazy bass work that I know of, but that's fine. I can hardly +hear any guitar; did Tyler even play it after SAI? + +### Lyrics + +Another difference is their lyrics; it all started with Tyler's "Adidas +track jacket". Tyler's gotten a lot more confident in bringing up specific +brands, like Dom Pérignon and Kawasaki. It might be a hip hop reference, +and I don't believe it suggests that tøp has grown more materialistic. +Also I'm still not over the proctologist line how did it happen 💀 + +_Clancy_ has very few explicitly in-lore tracks (Overcompensate, Paladin +Strait, and if you count the MV, then Navigating), compared to _Trench_ +(Jumpsuit, Levitate, Morph, Neon Gravestones, NATN, Bandito, Leave The +City). Makes sense since it's been 6 years since _Trench_ and you can only +make up so many stories about nine bishops and their wacky religion. + +### Track listing + +I will die on this hill: swap "Vignette" and "The Craving". "The Craving" +does not belong with "Lavish". You're at the verge of tears, guess what? +Here's a song about banquets, champagne, and a dick up your bum. This is +the single worst mistake. + +On the plus side, I'm glad Tyler chose Jenna's version in favor of the +single. Also, "Oldies Station" right after "Snap Back" is a nice touch. + +### Tier list + +Here's a ranking of all 13 tracks, based on my scale. The standards are +extremely high (or every song is S or A). + +- S tier: Overcompensate, At The Risk +- A tier: Paladin Strait, The Craving, Oldies Station +- B tier: Next Semester, Backslide, Midwest, Routines, Vignette, + Navigating +- C tier: Lavish, Snap Back + +For reference, here's a ranking of some other songs on the same standard: + +- S tier: Morph, Car Radio, Ode To Sleep +- A tier: My Blood, House Of Gold, Choker +- B tier: The Hype, Guns For Hands, Message Man +- C tier: Cut My Lip, Mulberry Street, Fake You Out + +## Verdict + +Rock sounds with hip hop and punk influences. Lyrics are more of personal +introspection than there is lore. Unfortunately, _Clancy_ did not surpass +_Trench_, but it's a close contender. But as my music taste shifts, this +might change. + +On a scale of _Trench_, I'd say _Clancy_ is 90% _Trench_. + +## Update: Alt tracklist + +So, a couple days after the release, the band announced a special edition +of the album called Digital Remains, which is a digital bundle with a PDF +containing promotional images and working drafts of lyrics. On one of the +images, an alternative tracklist can be seen: + + + +The tracklist is as follows: + +1. Overcompensate +2. Next Semester +3. Backslide +4. Navigating +5. Routines In The Night +6. The Craving +7. Midwest Indigo +8. Lavish +9. Vignette +10. At The Risk Of Feeling Dumb +11. Snap Back +12. Oldies Station +13. Paladin Strait + +With "Midwest Indigo" between "The Craving" and "Lavish", it eliminates +the greatest flaw of the album. I created a playlist in this order, and it +did sound better. + +## Trivia + +Similarities between "Paladin Strait" and "Taco Bell Saga": + +- Over six minutes long +- Has a reprise +- Contains the phrase "put … where my mouth is" (TB Saga: "I put my + chalupas where my mouth is"; Paladin: "Put my money where my mouth is") |