Nov 4

Nov 4 Bring It On, by Gomez

Chemo Round 2, Bring it On.

I chose this song partly for it’s title, as it seemed a good fighting message for my friend as they started round 2 of their chemo treatment (see my About page for more info). Dating back to 1999, the song appears on Gomez’ second album, Liquid Skin, released in September of that year. Their unique style, particularly the vocals, means that for me it doesn’t feel 20 years old and still sounds as fresh and uplifting today.

How do they do that?

In other pieces in my ‘Lift Your Spirits’ category, I have written about harmony (‘Rise Like A Phoenix) and rhythm (‘Sucker’ and ‘Spice Up Your Life’). What’s unique about the style of this piece and what gives it its feeling of positivity?

I’m going to focus on the use of musical contrasts. It’s a piece that plays with us and leaves us unsure of where we stand. We are just settling into a section when it shifts to something really quite different. Whether this is an intentional reflection of the deceitful lyrics (‘I’d lie, I’d lie’) I have no idea, but the frequent shifts do seem to echo that sentiment.

These contrasts manifest themselves, primarily, in the tempo (speed) of the pulse, vocal style and instrumentation. The song begins with rasping, growl-y two and three-part vocals that weave around and finish each others sentences in bare and slightly uncomfortable harmony. There are no drums or defined rhythm section here, so the long vocal lines give us the pulse, which feels very slow. In huge, uplifting contrast to this, when the drums enter, the pulse feels like double time (twice as fast) and the singer bursts into ‘Bring it on make it right’ with a real blast of positive energy.

Then we return to the long, slow vocal lines, but there is a little more rhythm section this time, so it doesn’t feel quite as slow as the opening tempo. Nonetheless, we get the contrasting pick up once more when the title lyrics reoccur.

In another surprising turn, the piece gives us a short instrumental, with a funky jazz style bass solo, followed by a completely different melody and mood. It could almost be a different song. It feels more together, less unexpected, and leads into a far smoother return to the ‘Bring it on’ refrain. After the uncertainties of the earlier contrasts, we are more cemented in a happy place now, playfully endorsed by the concluding passage, which to me sounds like an ‘Austin Powers’ moment. Reinforcing in the music that, just as the lies in the lyrics suggest, you can’t take it too seriously.

Hope you enjoy it or feel inspired to listen to something new today.

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