Eclectic Analysis of “8105″ by Moving Mountains
I will begin with my open listening of the piece, guided by Husserl’s principle of epoche where pre-existing beliefs and judgments are bracketed out. As I listen to the first two minutes of this piece, what I could loosely refer to as the song’s introduction, I hear lots of musical repetition in the form of the same spiraling guitar riff, harmonic ostinato in the bass and strings, and a kind of shimmery touch to the sound overall. When the male vocals enter, I hear what I believe is a heavy delay effect, possibly combined with reverb; the voice sounds distant in the wider landscape of the sound. I find the instrumentation to the piece interesting as more parts start to come in, such as more prominent strings, a big, almost boisterous yet dark trombone sound, and some kind of melodic auxiliary percussion, most likely glockenspiel. When the female vocals join the work, I hear what I believe is the climax of the song. I find it interesting how the female and male vocals work together in terms of lyrical content and timbre, but seem to oppose each other rhythmically; the male rhythm moves quickly, while the female is rather independent and sweeping. This sweeping quality seems to apply to the instrumental sections in the song as well, which are lengthy and seem to bridge the lyrical sections together. As the sound progresses and arrives at what may be a second climax with only male vocals, I feel enveloped in sound, as if it’s coming from all directions. I feel as if I am in a spherical space, an idea I might be drawing from the repeated mention of Earth in the lyrics. I also hear lyrics about sky and sun, inspiring nature imagery in my mind. I get a feeling that there is a lot of light flooding the soundscape, especially in the ambient section at the end of the piece; the sound feels suspended after relentless motion. By the end of the song, I feel like I may be at the conclusion at the album, although I am only at its halfway point; there is a degree of finality in the song’s conclusion that extends beyond its individual place in the work.
In the next step of my eclectic analysis, I move to the historical background of the work, where I investigate the context of the song, the album it is from (Pneuma), and the group who performed it (Moving Mountains). Taking form in Purchase, New York, Moving Mountains started with guitarist/vocalist Gregory Dunn and drummer Nicholas Pizzolato, then high schoolers writing songs in Dunn’s parents’ basement. These songs would later make up the band’s premiere full-length release, Pneuma (2007). Dunn and Pizzolato self-released and recorded Pneuma, which quickly became a cult hit in the underground alternative scene for its unique take on post-rock instrumentals and eloquent yet strongly delivered lyrics, reminiscent of the emo genre. Dunn also experienced the loss of a close friend while writing Pneuma, which likely influenced some of his lyrical content. On an interesting note, the fifth song on the album, “8105,” was named for the date of August 1st, 2005, when Dunn and Pizzolato officially formed the band. Moving Mountains took on two new members, Frank Graniero (guitar/vocals) and Mitchell Lee (bass), to complete their lineup before signing to Deep Elm Records, which reissued Pneuma a year following its initial release. The band released their 4-song EP Foreword in December of 2008, which kept their momentum going and name relevant until the release of their second full-length album, Waves (2011), through Triple Crown Records. Waves was widely regarded as a massive step for the band towards a new sound, one characterized by “bombastic aggression and sonically disarming, well, waves” that synthesized their knack for songwriting with more digestible song lengths. Waves also put them on the map for groundbreaking tours with alternative rock and post-rock powerhouses such as Thrice and Coheed and Cambria. Given three months to write a new album after an exhausting touring schedule, the band members quickly set a goal of returning back to the softness of their sound on Pneuma, with the intent that their next release would likely be their last as a group. The emerging work, in the band’s view, encapsulated their history not only as a band, but also as individuals sharing similar experiences with interpersonal relationships, physical and emotional distance, and loss. Their awareness of their evolving aesthetic undercurrent and belief that a band can create an experiential vision beyond music, an awareness that extends throughout their existence as a band, manifests itself most definitively in this last work. The resulting album was rightfully a self-titled piece. Lending finality to this awareness, Dunn described Moving Mountains (2013) as a “soft, powerful record” that the band hoped would characterize their legacy and sound in the minds of their fans years after its release (“About”).
The next step in an eclectic analysis is analyzing the syntax of the work. 8105 is in the key of E major. The meter is 4/4, with a tempo marking of around 87 beats per minute (drawing from their recorded song). The rhythmic pulse, characteristic of post rock instrumentals, quietly pushes the song forward in a swirling motion, complemented by the direction of the opening riff in the lead guitar, which ascends in a quick arpeggio before beginning an overall descent (transcribed in Figure 1 in the octave in which it sounds):
(Figure 1)
The song is 8 minutes and 31 seconds in length. As for the making of the recording, Pneuma was produced, mixed, and mastered by the band’s leading member, Gregory Dunn. The version of 8105 on Pneuma differs from the demo version of the same song on the band’s 2006 EP, which was never intended for public release; this version, which is in F major, does not include melodic percussion or trombone. The instrumentation of the work is Gregory Dunn on vocals, guitar, bass, trombone, and keyboards; Nicholas Pizzolato on drums; Michelle Cagianese on cello and vocals; and Peter Fusco on vibraphone and glockenspiel (“Pneuma”). Fusco almost certainly uses the pedal on the vibraphone in most instances, adding the motor for vibrato in some moments as well. The progression using Roman numeral analysis for the first verse is I-iii-I-iii-I-V (Major)-iii-V (M)-I-iii-vii, carried by the bass and repeated multiple times. A breakdown of the syntax of the song and its structure is included:
(Figure 2)
The impressive length of the song makes a full syntactical analysis difficult, but there are certain key moments that are worthy of note. For example, as noticed in the open listening, there is a musical independence to the male vocal and female vocal lines at the chorus at 2:40. The male rhythm moves much faster than the female, and the two rhythms rarely move on the same beat or at the same time. This creates an effect for the listener where they do not know which line to follow or focus on, given their nonalignment. Another example is the somewhat ambiguous meter change at 3:29, which represents a larger shift in the song to a new section. Here, the twice-as-slow beat is grounded by a relaxed cello line, and the shift to compound meter is emphasized by the triplet feel on the fourth beat of every bar in the guitar (a descending arpeggio) and the accented 1+2+3+ 1-2-3 pattern in the drums at 4:02.
Following a look at syntax is an investigation into phenomenology, or the sound-in-time. “8105” is sonically dense overall, a characteristic that Dunn suggests of Pneuma and Waves following the creation of the band’s last self-titled album. In this 2013 interview, Dunn acknowledged that “a lot of our previous material was always the mentality of ‘what else can we add?,’” to note a shift to their simpler, matured, and more refined sound (“POZ Interview”). Even the instrumentation of “8105” gives a sense of this density, especially in comparison to the song’s 2006 demo version (which has less developed parts and less studio effects, such as reverb, resulting in a thinner sound). Ambient, atmospheric sounds in the Pneuma version of the same song are stretched, lingering, and nearly always swelling in intensity and volume, an effect which builds up to form a massive wall of sound. An example of this effect is at 2:37. I might even call this a wave of sound rather than a wall, given the constant sense of motion, forward propulsion, and gathering force underlying each phrase. Moving Mountains might have borrowed this idea from songs like “Burial on the Presidio Banks” by This Will Destroy You. While heavy reverb and delay seem to make sections bleed into one another, melting into one’s subconscious, there is also a certain clarity to each voice, so that the wave of sound never fully crashes down. Contributing to this floating, atmospheric noise is a warm timbre lent by the cello, vibraphone, and female vocals. As noted in the open listening, “8105” also creates the image of a spherical soundscape with its vast instrumentation and sense of sound coming from all sides, enveloping the listener in layers. This space is flexible too, however, condensing to a more linear form at transitory periods where most voices drop out (like at 4:59). Flexibility suggests an organic quality to the sound, breathing and expanding at the meter shift to give potential insight into Dunn’s later compositional style. Appropriate for this organicity is my choice for color; I would say the song progresses in various shades and intensities of green. The next step of the eclectic analysis is a textual representation of the work, represented through a copy of the song’s lyrics and followed by an analysis (“Moving Mountains Lyrics…”):
(and we will fall back into the ocean)
the mountain tops are hard to see they tell how far you really are from me the clouds are thick but they can't hide you they can't hide you from me some things are here to kill me can you feel it now, we're burning up amongst your flames amongst your love our life (I am in the earth it's where you'll find me you, you're in the sky it's where you'll find me)
you, you're like the sun and I am Earth together we're one but someday your fire will die and I'll grow cold without sunlight. and I will freeze baby I will die I would freeze and I'd die for you
one thing I know you didn't know was how to fall head first, hand-in-hand into the ocean blue we count down, take a breath and jump, we're falling you'll scream, "baby, we're simply growing" (you're in the sky) I think maybe, I wouldn't mind to die like this
I may not say everything that's on my mind I am in the earth, it's where you'll find me you're in the sky fall from you
don't fret, baby, we're simply growing and my darling, I wouldn't mind to die like this don't fret, baby, we're simply growing. don't fret, babe, the sun is coming
One note about the lyrics is the changing tenses throughout the song. The very first line looks toward the future, moving to present tense in the verses, moving back to the future tense in the female vocals, and moving back to present tense at the conclusion of the song. This weaving in and out between tenses suggests a complexity to the relationship between the man and the woman, who struggle to experience the relationship in its immediacy while balancing their fears, worries, and aspirations for the relationship in its future. “And we will fall back into the ocean” could have multiple meanings, but may suggest that the relationship is doomed or destined to reach a certain fate before it has even run its course. This complexity also has a musical element when Pneuma is viewed as a whole. The male vocals at the chorus (“you, you’re like the sun/and I am Earth…”) directly reappear in the chorus to the 7th track to the album, entitled “Sol Solis.” Therefore, when the lyrics originally appear in “8105,” they are looking towards the future of the work, but when the lyrics reappear in “Sol Solis,” they are regressing back to their original context. This cyclical movement could tie into the nature metaphors and references present in Pneuma and “8105” specifically, such as the cycle of the sun’s rise and fall or the life cycle of living things on the Earth. “Don’t fret, babe, the sun is coming,” is the last reference to a cycle in “8105,” suggesting that the two lovers will inevitably experience highlights of their relationship in the future, but in the current darkness they may be out of reach.
Referential meaning builds off textual and musical representation to incorporate virtual feeling, or what is expressive of man’s unique being. Virtual feeling is felt in one’s soul and represents abstract emotions that cannot be grounded in syntax. When I listen to “8105,” I largely feel a sense of awareness understood by all of the musicians performing the work. It feels like they are in tune with the world around them and know how to navigate through it without worry of getting lost; the song feels purposeful from start to finish. Complementing this idea of navigating is the feeling that I’m wandering or perhaps swimming without a real direction in mind, but I feel assured nonetheless that I will reach my lofty destination; perhaps this ties into the idea of finality I felt by the end of my open listening. I also feel a sense of acceptance and knowingness; the song has bittersweet and even wistful moments, but as a whole there is a sense of peace and understanding, particularly at the conclusion of the work. Soaring lines convey a message of hope, faith, and perhaps even triumph. Lastly, I feel a quiet intensity and even passion underlying the work, controlled by a sense of inexplicable detachment from any one moment in time.
Moving forward in the eclectic analysis, we reach onto-historical world, or the cultural and historical world that surrounds and informs the artist to contextualize their work. As stated in the historical background, “8105” was originally written and recorded for the band’s 2006 demo that was never officially released. Therefore, I can refer to American and global events occurring in 2006 as well as cultural ideas prevalent at the time to attempt to contextualize the work. One idea I have is that the references to sun and the Earth may have been subconsciously influenced by the move back to space exploration in the United States after the Space Shuttle Columbia tragedy in 2003. In 2006, the Space Shuttle Discovery was launched to the International Space Station, which was the second “return to flight” mission after Columbia; this might serve as a possible connection to the work (Malik). As for a more personal take on the world of the artist, perhaps “8105” is not really about lovers at all, but about the death of Dunn’s friend, as mentioned in the historical background section. Lyrics such as “I wouldn’t mind to die like this” could be Dunn’s own reflection on the temporality of life; the reference to the woman in the song as being “in the sky,” physically apart from Dunn, could have a more spiritual meaning, perhaps alluding to heaven or where Dunn’s friend might’ve gone upon his death. It seems that this possibility is most likely the case upon reading interviews with Dunn that reflect on Pneuma, where he states that all of the lyrics for the work are “very figurative and overly metaphorical, because I was embarrassed to talk about it [the death of his friend] at the time” (“Moving Mountains”).
To round off my eclectic analysis, I will conclude with a second open listening of the piece. As I listen now, I am attempting to understand the lyrical content of song not from the prospective of two lovers at all, but from Dunn’s perspective after the death of his childhood friend. There seems to be a dialectical relationship between Dunn’s and Cagianese’s parts, which oppose and intertwine with each other musically to highlight the assured awareness I feel from all of the performers despite an existential and questioning nature to the actual words. Whenever Dunn’s voice is echoed or doubled (perhaps by himself or by one of the other males in the band), it feels reminiscent in this context of a Greek chorus, whose dramatic function is to comment on the action at hand with an omniscient knowledge of the actors’ true emotions and motivations. While adding a musical layer to the soundscape, this doubling might also serve a similar dual purpose to the Greek chorus, underscoring key emotions or thoughts in the piece (such as, “I wouldn’t mind to die like this”). In my second listening, I feel a much stronger sense of the referential, syntactical, and phenomenological interplay between omniscience and doubt present throughout the song, resonating through deeper lyrical meaning, a deliberate yet slow-to-take-off meter shift, and urgent swells that threaten to overwhelm and swallow the sound without control.
Now that my analysis is complete, I can end with a meta-critique of my work, which focuses on the strengths and weaknesses of my analysis and recommendations for further research. To begin, referential meaning was surprisingly difficult for me to feel in the song, especially in the first 10 or so listenings, most likely because it is not what I normally listen for in my own time. I usually allow the song to wash over me rather than pick out emotions conveyed by Dunn, which didn’t begin to reveal themselves to me until I learned of the passing of his friend and the inspiration this had on his writing for Pneuma. Dunn delivers “8105” with a detached passion that complicated my task, but also informed my end goal. Onto-historical world was challenging because the song is fairly recent, making it difficult for myself personally to reflect on major world events surrounding the year 2006. I can never really know why Dunn was inspired to use extended metaphors about the Earth and the sun throughout the work; perhaps this was a purely personal choice, but perhaps there was a defined cultural shift towards the natural world apart from the space possibility that I brought to my analysis. Syntax was by far the most challenging part of the analysis because of the extreme length of the song; I felt as if my musical knowledge and vocabulary were not great enough to truly define and pick up on what was going on, and to my knowledge, there are no transcriptions of all of the parts online for public access. Given that the song was written in 2006 by budding high school musicians, who knows if the parts were ever written down, or simply developed upon and committed to memory. To put it simply, there is a lot going on; I also cannot know recording strategies used by Dunn since that information was not available to me. Overall, a syntactical analysis by itself was an inorganic way of approaching an organic work, but I found it useful for uncovering new potential for analysis in other paragraphs.
If I were to broaden my analysis or recommend further research, I would make it a point to interview Dunn personally to answer some of my unknowns, while also delving into a full transcription of the work in a score format. I would investigate the etymology of the word “pneuma” and its applications to “8105.” I would also research the post-rock genre for technical information regarding typical sonic effects and technology, such as guitar pedals. Lastly, I would give more justice to the demo version of “8105,” since a full but separate analysis of that work would inform any changes made to the Pneuma recording.
Works Cited
"About." The Official Moving Mountains Website. Moving Mountains, n.d. Web. 04 May 2015. <http://www.movmou.com/>. Malik, Tariq. "Shuttle Discovery Reaches Orbit." Space.com. N.p., 04 July 2006. Web. 9 May 2015. <http://www.webcitation.org/5ix2x7gLa>. "Moving Mountains." Manicproductions.org. Manic Productions, n.d. Web. 09 May 2015. <http://www.manicproductions.org/event/171899-moving-mountains-obrother-hamden/>. "Moving Mountains Lyrics "8105"" Plyrics.com. N.p., n.d. Web. 7 May 2015. <http://www.plyrics.com/lyrics/movingmountains/8105.html>. "Pneuma (Moving Mountains Album)." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, Jan. 2014. Web. 05 May 2015. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pneuma_%28Moving_Mountains_album%29>. "POZ Interview: Moving Mountains." Propertyofzack.com. PropertyOfZack, 19 Aug. 2013. Web. 09 May 2015. <http://propertyofzack.com/post/58726164438/poz-interview-moving-mountains>.
