Whatever prejudices I may harbour against Microsoft, I can’t help but thank their
marketing department for alerting me to this track, featured in recent Internet Explorer 9
advertising and subsequently driven into the charts. It’s not just that I’m a sucker
for dubstep-inspired chorus theatrics either, because one of the things that appeals most
to me in this case is the level of restraint shown in the production. The way the two main
elements of the chorus texture (the modulated bass synth and lead vocal) are made
responsible for capturing the listener’s full attention, wilfully without fills and
other arrangement distractions, is an uncompromisingly bold move that could easily have
backfired, given a less engaging synth sound or vocal performance. As it is, however, the
bravado of the stripped-back presentation intensifies the power and catchiness of the
exposed raw materials. No less courageous is the inspired choice to start the second
chorus with two whole bars of solo voice, especially given the melody’s featureless
opening series of six quarter-notes. To come up with something like that, as a producer,
you need nerves of steel, as well as a singer with bulletproof charisma.
Repeat
listening offers further rewards. The vocal effects, for instance, combine what sounds
like a healthy dose of detune-based stereo widening with a pretty narrow-sounding effect
tail, creating a synthesis of pop intimacy and indie ‘garage ambience’ — a sound odd
enough to become almost a production hook in its own right. I love the effects contrasts,
too: the other-worldly vastness of the synth pads that start us off, the super-wide
ambient percussion arriving at 0:08, the dry rhythm guitar which enters with the vocal at
0:15, the off-centre ‘marimba in a tunnel’ at 0:30 and, of course, the brutally
up-front stereo lead synth. What’s great about each of these sounds is that it draws you
into its own unique environment, which I think really strengthens the impact of changes in
the arrangement, because, in sonic terms, you’re effectively discovering new worlds each
time. For probably the best example of this, check out the transition from the ‘pads
plus guitar’ texture of 1:39 into the percussion, high Rhodes and vox of the second
verse, where the singer’s room seems to suddenly inflate around you like some kind of
weird special effect from The Matrix!
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Alex Clare: 'Too Close'
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