Back in your head

My favourite Tegan & Sara track by a long shot. Sara wrote it. The bassist is Matt Sharp, formerly of Weezer, and it was produced by Chris Walla (of Death Cab for Cutie, of course!).

The bassline in the second half of the chorus was the thing that initially attracted me, but upon further inspection, I think the entire track is ingenious. The bass isn't present during the first verse - the piano hold its place. It enters during the chorus. In the first half, it kind of harmonizes with the melody being played on the piano. Then in the second half, it goes way up the neck into a bloody gorgeous countermelody that makes the entire song, in my opinion. (Plus I like how the end of the chorus hints at a C section that doesn't come until the second time around.)

The pure brilliance comes in during the second verse. The piano is playing the same thing it did during the first verse, that is an F major chord. But here the bass is playing a D underneath it, causing the entire thing to sound as a D minor seventh chord. Essentially, the bass makes us hear the second verse in a different harmonic context than the first verse. It sounds darker and heavier, just as the lyrics become more claustrophobic. Man, I don't know if it was the producer or the bassist (or even Sara) who made this decision, but whoever did, they know a hell of a lot about music.

The recording process is dirge-like, because it's such a thickly produced song that I'm not sure which parts to leave out and which to keep. I might hear some keyboards and go, "Extraneous!", but then I discover that they're contributing to the overall harmony and are thus essential. Listening to the song so many times, I've gotten a bit too ambitious because I seem to have fallen in love with the whole thing instead of just the bassline. Anyway, I'll post what I have so far before I destroy it by trying to cover the entire thing. Hope the beauty of the bass comes through!

Back in your head