Your weekly indie musical input.

[theinputmagazine]

6. “Long Sleeves” by Gracie Abrams.

“Long Sleeves” is easily my second favorite on the EP. This song is interesting ‘cause it manages to put a humming Gracie and a pad on repeat for the first 20 bars— which include the intro and the first verse— without tiring the listener, and that’s great because whoever skips this song is making a huge mistake. The crisp tone in Gracie’s voice is a lullaby by itself, but you need to wait at least until the first chorus to get a taste of what this song’s growing towards. Lyrically, I think it’s one of the most intimal pieces:

“Packing while you're asleep, you were the catalyst

I don't know what it is about how you breathe. 

About how you breathe

I want to be alone. 

Hate it that no one knows, you're good to everyone

All them but me; All them but me.”

Gracie’s describing us this character that we know well enough, because either we’ve known someone like that, or we’ve been like that ourselves. That person’s a totally different person with her and with their friends, and she has to live with that, and it obviously sucks. But Gracie’s sure of herself. She knows she’s not the problem in that relationship, stating that person was the catalyst, and later “It’s been a long time coming.” It was merely a matter of time. 

“And if you hear me leaving in the morning

Could you just pretend that it was only wind?

'Cause I can't love you even if I want to

Got a lot to work through

You don't know where I've been.”

The pre-chorus keeps the humming pad going, adding harmonic notes to it, as well as a deep low piano, an ethereal pad that resemble bells, another distorting, almost revving-like pad, and a melancholic short string at the end of the chorus. Now, we’ve heard all sort of romantic stories in each song in Gracie’s “minor”, but here is, I think, the first time I’ve heard her put herself in the “be the better person” position. She’s leaving, and maybe because that’s person an asshole, but she also states she’s gotta work through some stuff of her own, and that talks a lot about maturity.

The chorus is a repetition of the same phrase I wrote above: “It’s been a long time coming.”  

Then, the song makes a small halt — the kind of pauses we’ve heard before in some of her other songs—  and takes us to the second verse, but not without first getting rid of all the instruments and adding a cozy acoustic guitar instead. 

“Say something sweet to me

It never meant a thing

Used to the turbulence

I wore long sleeves; I wore long sleeves

Fought 'til you tethered me

Swept under surfaces

Never enough of it

You didn't think; You didn't think.”

Much more complex and richer strings join Gracie as she’s halfway through this second verse. The melodies on the violins are perfectly placed in between Gracie’s voice. We are also able to enjoy a distorted layer of Gracie’s voice that puts emphasis on the phrase “You didn’t think”.

Here, she asks that person for sweet words, even if she knows they don’t mean a thing. Again, she’s used to it, to the fights “turbulence” might be referring to, or the infinite number of emotions she’s under: the stress, the heartbreak, the sadness, the anger, the impotence… With “I wore long sleeves”, I’m thinking she means she’s hiding all of it, so any of it shows on her face. 

We then go to another pre-chorus and another chorus, which are basically the same as the ones we heard before, but now with the guitar and much more present synth ambient pads. Then, we get the same halt, but now it takes us to an outro, where Gracie sings “I’m coming down” on repeat with the help of some vocal harmonies of her own, an ambient pad, and a brief higher-than-heaven violin melody by Rob Moose. The instruments fade and we are left with just the clear vocals, which make the song feel even more melancholic. 

Personal Favorite Phrase: “Used to the turbulence”

Objective Findings:  

Key: Bb

Instruments: Vocals, synth ambient pads, piano, violin. 

Chord Progression: I - IV 

Effects: Reverb, beautiful panning (I know it’s not an effect per se), stereo imaging. EQ, compression, limiter (the musts). 

What do you think of “Long Sleeves”?

[theinputmagazine]

5. “I miss you, I’m sorry” by Gracie Abrams.

First of all, I’m a sucker for songs which intros rise like a tsunami, that leave you knowing something’s coming, and that that something could be anything. In this song, the decision was to bring peace. You’ve got 8 seconds of three different sounds that mix the ethereal, the underwater/calm and the chaos, and then, they suddenly stop to let you land onto a peaceful first verse.

We accompany Gracie as she plays a deep, rich piano, foot all the way on the sustain pedal— which makes the frequency harmonics linger in the air of what I picture in my mind as an empty concert hall, just Gracie and her piano. Of course (and most likely) that’s not the case, but that’s the story this song tells me.

Gracie’s reminiscing about a past romantic relationship, seeking out chords that match that vibe, and even if the choice is major chords, the last sus2 chord on the progression hits the jackpot. 

“Do you remember happy together? I do, don’t you?”

As we saw in previous songs, it doesn’t take Gracie (and the producers) too much to get us where they want. It’s what they do with so little that’s impressive and what also makes us stay. The way Gracie writes, the way she phrases her thoughts, so casual yet so deep and relatable is unique.

“Is that still true?”

I wrote that particular word in bold because, if you listen carefully, the producers put a stereo echo and other effects in that single word, making my producer alter ego go “HOLY SHIT”. Again, these little details are what separates a simple producer from a great one. 

Then we are right at the chorus, a synth pad and delays on the vocals join the piano and the vocals.

“You said forever, in the end I fought it, please be honest, are we better for it?

Thought you’d hate me but instead you called and said ‘I miss you’, I caught it.”

We found ourselves again amidst the problematic romantic relationship of a teenager, where, sadly “forever” becomes a meaningless word, feelings change and drive the people involved, and all the promises that have been made are meant to be broken. 

At the end of the chorus we hear the same rising sound we heard at the beginning, now leading us to the second verse, which introduces deep percussions and a bass, all of them within the same low frequency spectrum, giving the song a much more complete sound. (Now the piano’s just covering the medium-highs, a nice change by the producers in order to separate the sounds from each other and make them clearer). We also get to hear a small falling string melody halfway through this verse, which kinda imitates a lamenting sound.

“Good to each other, give it the summer. I knew, you too.

But I only saw you once in December. I’m still confused.”

Feelings, feelings, feelings! It takes two people to just see each other once in a long time for their emotions to rise up, specially if they have some sort of history behind. It’s as if when we are teenagers our feelings peak and make a mess out of everything, and then, as adulthood comes, we learn to control them, and the way we manage romantic relationships changes for good.

Vivid imagery comes as Gracie sings a different second chorus, where she mentions fights, breaking dishes, and a haunted house (metaphorically speaking). My favorite phrase is right here, and it happens to be the title of the song: “(But) I miss you, I’m sorry.” It’s just so powerful. It means it’s not up to her. She doesn’t care there’s been fights. She doesn’t care they aren’t talking. Or she does care, but in the way that she knows they can go past all those problems. After all, they can figure it out. They can save the good moments and resume the relationship.

The instrumentation is almost the same, with more vocal harmonies and more percussive elements (I’m talking about that cinematic metal sound in the second half of the chorus, which is fantastic). 

You said, "forever," and I almost bought it. I miss fighting in your old apartment

.

Breaking dishes when you're disappointed. I still love you, I promise.

Nothing happened in the way I wanted. Every corner of this house is haunted.

And I know you said that we're not talking. But I miss you, I'm sorry.

Then, yet another sudden stop, but this time there’s no rising sound, it’s just Gracie and her piano in the middle of that infinite concert hall, and us as ghostly spectators. A moment to breath… Then, the biggest outro I’ve heard in any of the songs in the EP. 

The same instrumentation, but now they’ve added beautiful string tremolos, and, to give it even more power, they add the phrases of the second chorus in-between the phrases of the outro. And then, to make it a perfectly circular song, they leave the last four lines to be sung along with just the synth pad we heard at the beginning. 

Personal Favorite Phrase: “But I miss you, I’m sorry.”

Objective Findings:  

Key: G

Instruments: A synth pad, piano, vocals, 808 (?) bass, what sound as orchestral percussions to me, and strings, be it violins or violas. 

Chord Progression: I- I (1st inversion) - iii - IVsus2 (although I think it changes to a normal IV on the choruses)

Effects: Echo, reverb, delay, stereo imaging, a chain of compressors, equalizers and limiters.

Note: I’m sure they worked with more effects, but these are the ones that are more noticeable to me.

What do you think of “I miss you, I’m sorry”?

[theinputmagazine]

4. Te-he

The fourth song in “minor” grabs my attention cause it starts with a Wurlitzer electric piano that’s playing around with changing velocities (the force applied on the keys, which changes their volume and tone) and a subtle, nice delay. That it starts with these kind of dynamic choices in a few simple chords is enough to set the mood. I also love the hoarse sound it does when the keys are lifted. 

Gracie starts singing with that whispery voice that we now recognize, the one that makes us feel we are there with her, as if she were telling us that story herself, face to face. An accompanying bass gets in halfway through the first verse, as well as a gentle synth ambient pad and a light, repetitive percussive synth. Then, in the chorus, the bass gets a bit more complex, with some step notes in between. A stronger synth ambient pad is also introduced here, and the Wurlitzer mimics the vocal melody.             

At the end of the chorus, we start hearing some electric snares, which foreshadow what’s coming next: In the second verse and throughout the whole song now, a minimalistic electric drum-set will be playing. 

The second chorus adds some vocal harmonies, a common technique we hear in almost every song nowadays, specially in the pop genre.

For me, what the producers do best, and besides everything that’s also obviously great, is adding new sounds every now and again— like in the second chorus, after the words “when quiet,” where we hear a falling short melody that’s actually arranged vocals with some effects — and small breaks that make the song breath (you can hear this after the second chorus, just before the instrumental part).

We also hear a new sound before the last refrain, kind of a distorted synth-ish guitar or guitar-ish synth  (these days it’s hard to know what’s what just by hearing it; I’d really like to know the process behind every new production). 

Then we get to the final chorus, where the producers get rid of most sounds and take us to a calm place. They leave the vocals, the bass, and a brass instrument that might have been there before, but I’m just noticing now. For the final four bars, they add the Wurlitzer chords again and it’s a wrap. 

Structure-wise, the song is really simple. Its got one verse, then it jumps straight to the chorus, then a short second verse, and finally a refrain. Then, we get the same chorus, the same refrain, and the same chorus once again— that works as an outro just as well. 

Lyric-wise, though, it’s fantastic. The vivid imagery throughout the song places a coming-of-age cinematic short inside my head. A romantic relationship of…kids, basically, which doesn’t make it any less important. Those moments mark us, whether we are 50 or 16.         “We played grown-ups”… who doesn’t. Who doesn’t think they are mature and prepared for an emotional commitment when we are that age? Yet, it tends to be chaotic and full of drama, ‘cause most of us like that, cause it makes us feel all sorts of emotions. But we eventually get tired of that. We grow up and mature, as one should. And those who get caught in those kind of games are in for serious dysfunctional relationships.

Personal Favorite Phrase: “Slept on floors of angry mornings”

Objective Findings:  

Key: Db

 Instruments: Wurlitzer electric piano, vocals, analog bass, electric percussions, at least two synth ambient pads, and that brass instrument (be it a sax, a trumpet, a horn) at the end. 

Chord Progression: I-V-VI-III (I-V-III)

Effects: Reverb, delay, stereo imaging, a chain of compressors, equalizers and limiters.

Note: I’m sure they worked with more effects, but these are the ones that are more noticeable to me.

What do you think of “Tehe”?

[theinputmagazine]

3. “Under/Over” by Gracie Abrams.

Under/Over is the shorter song in the EP, and it’s also my favorite. 

NME wrote that this is one of those songs that are easily forgotten, but I don’t think so. For me, Under/Over is a minimalistic work of art. A production that doesn’t yell “Hear me!”, but instead, it says “Listen to me carefully, and appreciate the sounds within,” which include a simple but beautiful piano progression, different percussions, a distorted 808 bass, vocal harmonies, at least two synth pads (one which rises and disappears, and another that seems to be in reverse) and ringing bells. 

This song goes straight to the point: Gracie starts singing and playing her Wurlitzer electric piano from the first phrase and until her very last one. In the first verse she tells us the story of a forgotten love, reminiscing the days when she could hardly function from a broken heart. She still remembers everything, and, like in “Friend”, she’s still able to access those feelings, even if she’s way over them. 

The chorus also starts early, with just the one verse before it. The distorted 808 bass is introduced, giving the song more depth. The vocals turn into rhythmically playful words and a falsetto that couldn’t fit better, giving the song more sense of dimension and spectrum. The piano chords change a bit, but they always come home to a sweet resolution. Here, we get Gracie doesn’t quite understand her feelings, which is normal for a teen: A wave of emotions is enough to make you do or not do certain things. We tend to overthink and make mistakes, to do things we think are right for us, just to realize they aren’t, as she so states in the second verse: “Thought that I’d be good the day I took down all your pictures in my room”. As if it were that easy; Emotions and feelings are way much more complex than that, and, at the end of the second verse, she seems to understand this. (“Maybe I’m just getting confused”) Exactly. 

The chorus repeats, with just a few production-wise variations (We now hear layers of delayed and echoed vocals, and a pad, which rises at the end and takes us towards the outro) and one BIG-LITTLE change in the lyrics. Now, instead of saying “I’m underwater, but I’m over you”, she sings “I’m underwater, am I over you?” She’s still confused, and rightfully so, as she’s been digging on past emotions, and most of us well know what happens when you do that: You might get stuck in the mud again. Unfortunately, we don’t get that answer from Gracie. 

Next and quickly enough, is the outro, which to me is just perfect. It’s what makes me want to repeat the song all over again and get to that part yet again— although I hate that it happens to be the end. There are chopped vocal samples along with the ongoing percussive sounds that are put here and there in a clever rhythmical pattern all around my head, different kind of synth pads that work together in harmony, an airy synth that I can’t really name (be it a bubbly trumpet or a sax), and a bell-ish hit that reminds me of a sound from Super Smash Bros. It’s just all too much and too good. It certainly gives me Owl City’s “Fireflies” vibes, which adds to why this song is my favorite. 

Personal Favorite Phrase: “I'm not chasing feelings that I don't understand"

Objective Findings:  

Key: E

Instruments: Wurlitzer electro piano, vocals, 808 bass, different percussions, at least two synth pads, bells, that airy/bubbly trumpet (which I think is also a virtual instrument) and I’m really thinking there’s a Super Smash Bros sample there or something lol.

Chord Progression: III - VII - I three times, then VII - I - II

Effects: Reverb, delay, echo, stereo imaging, a chain of compressors, equalizers and limiters. Panning (which is not an effect, but boy did they panned away!) 

Note: I’m sure they worked with more effects, but these are the ones that are more noticeable to me.

What do you think of “Under/Over”?

[theinputmagazine]

2. “21″ by Gracie Abrams.

A piano melody that resembles bells; to me, a soothing alarm. I wouldn’t hesitate to choose this as that song to wake up to. The note-repeating rhythmic acoustic guitar that joins it puts a feeling of rush inside my body. I’ve gotta be somewhere, but where? 

Gracie keeps up with the instrument with a few lines that help complete the feeling: She should be elsewhere as well. In this first verse she tells us she’s missing the birthday party of who I think is one of her first lovers (if not the very first), someone whit whom she’s been really close, considering their mother knows her well enough to love her. 

I don’t really get what Gracie’s trying to say in the pre chorus: “Sometimes I go blurry eyed, small talk and you tell me that you’re on fire. Lights on and it’s black and white, I couldn’t stay forever”.  I could easily search for the meaning of it in the “webs” but that would be cheating. I’ll eventually do it, but I wouldn’t put here the words of another person. To me, “small talk and you tell me that you’re on fire” sounds like they are fighting over stupid stuff, but I bet I’m looking too into the words and it means something entirely different.

This is the most upbeat track on the album, with a sweet low four on the floor that resembles a beating heart, which adds to that feeling of adrenaline I’m getting throughout the whole song. However, the lofi snare that comes before the kick gives me peace. 

The lines on the chorus are just beautiful: “I see the look in your eye and I’m biting my tongue. You’ll be the love of my life when I was young.” Who doesn’t remember their first love and all the feelings that came with it? The nervousness, the eagerness, the anticipation of it all.

Each side of the relationship has a story to tell, and, if something’s wrong, both will do whatever they can to defend their position, as it clearly states on the second chorus: 

“Just because you’re hurting doesn’t mean I’m not, (but) If it doesn’t go away by the time I turn thirty, I made a mistake and I’ll tell you I’m sorry.” It would take Gracie nine more years (since their lover just turned 21 and I’m assuming she’s the same age or younger) to realize she was wrong. 

The whole musical scheme doesn’t change much, except for a deep bass that comes halfway through the first chorus — lasting for a bit and coming again in the second chorus— and some percussive stops, which help “21” not become a dull, repetitive song, although I wouldn’t care, I’m a sucker for loops. The vocal harmonies, the different take on the same melody but this time on a windy synth, and some white-noise ambient that pans rhythmically AND randomly left and right also help raise the song to the top in the outro.

With a three minute and five second mark, I find this song really fun and easy to digest.

Personal Favorite Phrase: “Just because you're hurting doesn't mean I'm not."

Objective Findings:  

Key: G

Instruments: Piano, acoustic guitar, vocals, bass, kick and snare, synth, harmonies, and I’m guessing an ambient white noise generator, but it could be a pad or even wire brushes lightly scratching a snare. 

Chord Progression: I-V (G and D)

Effects: Reverb, delay, saturation, a chain of compressors, equalizers and limiters. 

Note: I’m sure they worked with more effects, but these are the ones that are more noticeable to me.

What do you think of “21”?

[theinputmagazine]

1. “FRIEND” by Gracie Abrams.

The inhalation in the beginning of “Friend” immediately followed by three different sets of simple but effective acoustic guitar notes are enough to grab my attention. Even if I’m not listening to the words Gracie’s singing— I tend to focus primarily on the instruments, and, since English is not my mother language, I look up the lyrics afterwards— I can still tell there’s honesty behind it all. I can see Gracie was hurting when she wrote this, and the way she sings this shows that either she can still go inside her mind and remember how she felt, ultimately feeling the same way in the present, or that she’s a brilliant actress. 

(Now that I’ve read the lyrics, it’s enough to play it one more time for me to get lost in it and get sympathetically down).

I expect the song to go up from there, and of course, it does: A strumming acoustic guitar accompanied by a rich, sweet bass keeps my head and my left foot moving. I can also hear, way in the back, a hint of reverb on some of Gracie’s phrases. And then, to my surprise, a beautiful synth that seems to have been born out of an angel/whale/alien affair fills the center with a decaying cry. 

A three piece drum set takes the place of the strumming guitar as Gracie tells us more to the story in this second verse: time has passed, the person she’s talking about is most likely fine, but she’s still in the grieving process of a broken heart. She doesn’t want to see this person, ‘cause it will only make things worse.   The strumming comes back halfway through the verse, while different toms hit around my head and finalize it, taking me to the middle part of the song: the second chorus— which we’ll hear again at the end. 

In this second chorus, the producers put the cherry on top by repeating the second, fourth and sixth phrases after they’ve been said, spicing them up with some delay and reverb, and then proceed to make a stereo image with them— meaning we hear them as if from a long distance on our left and right ears (if wearing headphones).

The third part, the bridge,  is by far my favorite part. In eight bars, we get the same bass that’s been keeping the song going, Gracie’s bright voice, and an even more muffled drum set — which I think is the ever repeating theme around this EP: that feeling of being underwater, looking at the vast sea while inside a not-so-imaginary cage with a label that reads “minor”.

The bridge comes down to a delayed echo of the words that sum up what Gracie’s so hurt about: that person had no problem leaving, yet she’s left with all these feelings. With this, the producers shut it all off, as if turning on a music sucking vacuum. But then: BAM, we’re back with the last chorus, which gives us a last chance to sing our broken hearts out. 

Personal Favorite Phrase: “You had no problem leaving, now I’m the one to feel it.”

Objective Findings:  

Key: A. 

Instruments: Acoustic guitar, vocals, bass, drums, synth, harmonies, and I’m thinking either an ambient pad in the chorus (way back) or voice harmonies that sound like an ambient pad. Maybe both?

Chord Progression: III - VII - I (however, the second chord does not belong to the scale. It should be G#dim, but instead, it borrows G# from another scale).

Effects: Reverb, delay, echo, stereo imager, a chain of compressors, equalizers and limiters, and I’m not sure if a chorus. I’m sure they worked with more effects, but these are the ones that are more noticeable to me.

What do you think of “Friend” ?

[theinputmagazine]

“minor” by Gracie Abrams.

Imagine you jump into the pool and you begin to hear beautiful ethereal sounds, muffled lo-fi drums that soothe your body and mind, relaxing melodies from a piano (a Wurlitzer, to be exact) and then, crisp and clear, out of this underwater scenario, a voice that’ll sing you stories that will make you wanna cry, but in the good way. 

This is Gracie Abrams’ debut EP: “minor”. Track by track, a song per day,  I’ll analyze both subjective and objectively what I, as a music producer and writer, listen.

Let’s get started with the first track “Friend” in the next post!