I know this challenge caused some consternation among some contestants, but the goal was not to frustrate you, cause you to panic, or even to make you work at writing a good song despite the challenge; the goal was for you to use the challenge to make a good song - to think about melody deliberately, and experiment with ways of creating compelling melodies that you might not have thought of otherwise. And you know what? Many of you did so, and succeeded! This is a great batch of songs and I’m glad I don’t have to rank them against each other. Let’s dive right in!
David Taro - Don’t You Want Me Anymore
Right off the bat, here’s a compelling argument that motivic development isn’t just compatible with good pop songwriting, it is good pop songwriting. You introduce the motive immediately with an instrument that’s timbrally distinct from everything else, and you develop it one step at a time so the listener recognizes that “this thing” is like “that thing” is like “that other thing” - shift it, flip it upside down, extend it, and finally join in with the lead vocal. The result is a truly delicious and infectious earworm and a song that feels cohesive and unified without being overly repetitive (which is the whole point of the challenge!).
Lyrically, you’re in very familiar pop song territory, but you execute it well, with some great rhymes like “argument / what I meant” and “What’s my motivation here / On a scale of one to fear”. I’m wondering if the line before the title hook should be “Push me away only to ask me” - as I’m reading “Don’t you want me anymore” as a quote from the singer’s partner, with that pair of lines demonstrating the partner’s contradictory nature, pushing the singer away and then petulantly asking why the singer is distant. And also “ask me” makes for a better slant rhyme with “scary”.
My only complaints about the music are minor ones: I’d love to hear a snappier snare sound; especially at the beginning when the drums come in alone it sounds rather cheap and lifeless; and I would cut the quiet guitar doodles that first appear in the second verse at 1:02 and bounce around between stereo channels; they’re rhythmically confusing and don’t add anything to my listening experience besides some mild bewilderment.
The Moon Bureau - I Left My Sweater at the Discotheque
This is an adorable little story - I love that it has a happy ending in that yes, you found the sweater, you got the number, and you’re going to make the call. And I love that what comes next is left up to our imagination - maybe you get together and stay together, maybe you have a fun little fling, maybe things fizzle out, maybe the call goes straight to voicemail and they never return it, but for now we’re in the moment of initial infatuation and the story doesn’t need to go beyond that.
That organ riff sure is tasty, and it appears with slight variations (ornamentation, with and without added harmony, borrowed later by the guitar during the [excellent] solo), so I’ll give you credit for executing the challenge there, although I wish there was some more variation in the riff - maybe taking the last two notes down an octave some times, maybe flipping the melodic shape upside-down while keeping the same chord progression - lots of possibilities! I also wish the organ was louder and/or that the rhythm guitar was quieter - the guitar dominates even though it’s not the most interesting thing happening.
The lead vocal is kind of all over the place pitch-wise - such that when you sing “velvet rope” at 0:53 it’s not immediately apparent that you’re meaning to change up the melody from the chorus or just hitting a bum note. You have better pitch control in the bridge starting at 1:52 (the sustained high note at 2:00 sounds great), and I know from plenty of other songs that you can sing in tune, but it seems like sometimes you make it a priority and sometimes you don’t.
This Big Old Endless Sky - of ragged mountain ranges
I may be completely off base, but lyrically this song seems to be… about SpinTunes? Not in a way that will make any of the judges mad, but… “i’m so tired / writing all the songs / righting all the wrongs / but writhing all along” and several other moments in the lyrics point me toward that interpretation.
If it’s not about SpinTunes, it’s clearly about slogging through something that you don’t really have the motivation for, but forcing yourself to do it anyway. And, well, the listening experience is a bit of a slog also. Those relentless hits on beat 1 of each measure, the distortion drenching anything, and the yelling, so much yelling, makes this sonically overwhelming.
Vehicles of Beware - Lordless Lucy
Given the epic prog structure and sonics of this song, I’m surprised it clocks in at a mere 3:08. It’s a fun listen, and I like how swirly things get toward the end. The guitar riff is repeated at a different pitch level, which certainly checks the box for the challenge, but I think especially given the style of music, there were a lot of opportunities for additional development left on the table.
The Dutch Widows - There's always a book to justify the actions of a thin-skinned baby man and he probably wrote it…
This is a pretty delightful listen, although I think you wimped out on fully engaging with the challenge and I think you know it. However, if I set that aside, I really enjoy this one. I enjoy the juxtaposition of the catchy classic pop progressions and layering with your warm, weary vocals. It’s that Dutch Widows magic!
I’m really intrigued by your point of view here - it’s a first person perspective but the narrator displays more awareness of his own flaws than would be expected; in fact the voice feels like a mixture of the character along with a more dispassionate authorial voice, but all using first-person language. I don’t dislike it; it’s just a bit disorienting.
Hot Pink Halo - Radiant Joy
Here’s a case where your own opinion of this song is going to be much more important than any of ours, given your connection with the subject. As for me, I really enjoy the various guitar textures you employ, and your vocal delivery is confident and well-done, but the melody feels disjointed and the song as a whole doesn’t feel like it comes together into a coherent whole.
Jealous Brother - Low Bottoms
The band sounds terrific, and you sound like you’re having a great time playing this tune. That ascending set of three arpeggios we hear in the piano at the beginning and that gets picked up by other instruments later on is a great hook, especially when the electric guitar adapts it to end on a blistering high note.
The instrumentation is impressive: you’ve got drums, piano, multiple electric and acoustic guitars, fiddle, banjo, and probably some other stuff that doesn’t pop out as conspicuously. I can fast-forward to various points in the song and hear completely different instruments highlighted, but there are no abrupt shifts in the arrangement; rather, instruments come forward and step back organically. With only three of you and a lot more than three instruments, obviously there were overdubs and deliberate arrangement choices made, but it all feels very natural.
I can’t make heads or tails out of the lyrics, other than to shake my head at the unnatural syllable stress (“bottoms”, “problems”) and the convoluted syntax (“On his way he's gonna be getting”). But everything else about the song is so well done that I can’t bring myself to care that much.
Celestial Drift - Skinner
Really impressive arrangement. I get serious Steeleye Span vibes at 2:36 but that might just be me. The clear narrative throughline of the lyrics along with your use of recurring motives make the whole thing hang together even with all its tempo changes.
I do wish I heard more memorable melodies in the vocal; the instrumental feels like the star of the show and I remember very little of the specific vocal lines when I’m not listening. Lyrically this is a classic crime ballad, so a big part of me also wishes that the lyrical meter was a lot more regular. (See e.g. Also In Blue’s “I Know Tom Dooley Done It” from SpinTunes 19.)
Governing Dynamics - Put The Gun Down
Every time this song starts, I get excited, thinking to myself, “Oh yeah! I love this song!” Then I get to the 15th note of that opening guitar riff, which is the same as the 14th note instead of a fourth above it, and I am reminded that I am not, in fact, listening to the mid-2000s indie rock classic “No One’s Gonna Love You” by Band of Horses, and I must adjust my expectations accordingly.
Once I did get my bearings, I liked this song quite a lot! In a texture like this with lots of layered guitars, putting the motive in a guitar line means that it can be hard to pick out when it is brought back in new contexts. So I didn’t work too hard at following its various permutations, instead letting myself enjoy the wash of sound.
Lyrically, this seems to be a caution against jumping to violence in the face of… [gestures vaguely all around], although I’m not sure what to do with the line “It's only money”.
Sober - The Harder Road
One thing that surprised me about this round was how many entrants focused on fulfilling the challenge in their instrumental lines. I appreciated that you took this challenge as an opportunity to focus on vocal melody, and the results are good. This was one of my favorites of the round, perhaps for the simple reason that the melody parked itself in my memory right away and stayed there.
The lyrics are sketchy and, it seems, highly allegorical, but the theme that comes through is that it’s better to spend your life in the company of others than to try to go it alone - a message I can certainly get behind. Some of the wording of individual lines stretched my sense of credulity - lines like “And partake nor share of burden” or “being fled” feel like they’re reaching for a timeless, archaic feel but just come off as awkward.
Flintsteel - Absolved
This is as epic as one expects from Flintsteel! When I try to listen for motivic development, I get pretty overwhelmed, as there’s so much going on between various vocal melodies, guitar riffs, rhythms… etc, etc, etc. It’s not unlike plenty of other good songs you’ve created but in this context it all feels a bit overstuffed.
Dream Bells - Temple
Here’s an example of a song where the motive is developed in the instrumental arrangement but doesn’t feel like it gets lost or buried. There’s a few reasons you’re able to pull this off so well: the motive is extremely simple, just four notes (1-5-6-5, if my ears don’t deceive me); you establish it right away in the beginning of the song; and you employ a lot of repetition throughout the song so that the listener has a chance to recognize each variation on the motive.
Musically, this is a huge departure from what I’ve heard from you before. I like the more dreamlike sound, and I like this more abrasive, aggressive sound too! However, there is a throughline between the two styles, which is your tendency to bury and/or distort your vocal line, such that the words themselves are completely unintelligible without reading the lyric sheet. Whether this is due to an insecurity about your vocal abilities or lyric writing, or a simple stylistic preference, I’d like to gently push against it. I want to hear your human voice come through, which I think can happen without sacrificing your clear affinity for compelling electronic textures.
Joy Sitler - Gravel Road [SHADOW]
This song is lovely in its simplicity. The core of the melody is the three ascending notes at the beginning of each verse - a simpler motive is hard to come by! Likewise, it’s developed in simple ways as well - down a step, one note chromatically altered. It’s all perfectly in service of the intimate lyrics, and makes for an instantly memorable and touching song.
Möbius Strip Club - Matching Baggage [SHADOW]
The musical ideas are good, and the lyrical concept is terrific; you’ve clearly put a lot of thought into the central metaphor. As a listening experience, this really suffers from a mix that buries the vocals, and from a clumsy guitar performance with severe timing issues - prominent at 1:00 but on display at various other points as well.
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