Last Friday and Musical Rant

This post will be in two parts. First, about the fun events of last Friday. Second, a musical rant that I've been contemplating.

After science class on Friday, I went home and cleaned up, getting ready for the movie night that was attended by both students of Geneva and Christ College. Later that afternoon, Mom came home with a few kids in tow, and she began preparing dinner. People started arriving around five thirty or six. The girls were off somewhere while the guys gathered in the living room to talk and to admire the pictures of food in the European food book in the coffee table. Dad came home and finally the feast was ready. We prayed and then descended upon the food en masse. When everyone had their food and had eaten, we gathered in the living room to watch the thriller "The Others," a movie about a house that is haunted by ghosts. One of the best things to do with one's peers is to watch a thriller movie with them because you get to hear them scream and see them jump, which makes everyone laugh. Anyway, Mandy, Bethany, Christopher, and Alex squeezed on the big couch with John, Megan, and myself on the other one and everyone else on the floor. Ben used Mandy's pillow and squishy, after she warned him not to damage her squishy lest he face the consequences. The movie was enjoyable, but it's even better when you watch it with friends. About halfway through the movie, I noticed that Noah was sneaking up behind Alex but I figured he was about to pull a prank so was silent. A few minutes later, Noah made some noise and made the girls on the big couch scream, and everyone laughed. When the DVD started skipping, we went for dessert of ice cream (we bought a big thing of it, and it was gone afterwards). While Mom was spooning out ice cream, Cliff and Noah decided to play a trick on Mandy and Megan, so they locked them in Seth's room and made them scream before Cliff suddenly opened the door and frightened them again. We were all roaring with laughter. After we finished the movie, some people decided to go outside and play a prank on our neighbors (I have no idea why), but a few others stayed inside. Dad put in "Kung Fu Panda" (one of the funniest childrens' movies ever. Lots of good quotes for us to use) briefly, but by eleven PM most people had to go. All in all, it was an excellent and fun evening. There has been some talk of doing another movie night and possibly alternating between houses. If there is one, I hope I get to go before I leave for Houston in a month. Below is a link to some pictures I took during the event.

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=72611&id=603748360&l=f5ca5afd26

And now, on to the second part of the blog post: a comparison of different types of vocal layering in music. In my personal definition, I define layering as recording one voice over and over again to achieve an "echoing" effect or using several different voices for a similar effect. I have the following examples to compare: Clannad, Enya, Maire Brennan, Emmy Rossum, and Anuna.

Clannad
Clannad doesn't exactly use layering, but they deserve some credit because Enya, who uses layering heavily, was impacted by them. Clannad's layering consists of Maire's frontal vocals with the background harmony of the four (or three or five, depending on which year the song was recorded) people, most of whom are male. Their layering techniques were not present in their early traditional works, but they appeared in their "Theme from Harry's Game" with the mixture of Maire's vocals with the men's. I like to think that it was this song that inspired several artists to try the layering effect in different ways. After 1982, Clannad used layering frequently, especially for their darker songs and not as much for their lighter ones. Their layering gives them a similar Enya-esque sound except they did not have to record the same voice over a hundred times. Another good example of their layering would be in "Croi Croga" (which I have to agree with fans and critics who say it is Clannad's finest work) and " A Mhuirin O" (I can't spell Gaelic, so forgive me), the latter which actually uses I think only Maire's voice and no male vocals though I can't be sure.

Enya
Enya has established her place in the music industry by her signature layering in many of her songs. I have listened to songs from her first popular album "Watermark" and compared them to her most recent "Amarantine," and I discovered that her layering was not very prominant in her early works but became that way with "Shepherd Moons" and beyond. For Enya, her layering is all her voice and no one else's (though I do wonder how she can sing bass on some songs). Basically, she probably records herself singing the melody first and then over time she either adds on to the melody by singing in another key or by singing a harmonic line or two. It is long process, and some fans have said this is the reason why it takes her so long to record an album, because she does all the vocals herself. Good examples of her layering would be "The River Sings" (new layering) and "Storms in Africa" (old layering), especially the latter where you can hear her singing in different keys and tones.

Maire Brennan
Maire has not achieved the same claim to fame as her little sister Enya, though she uses similar techniques, especially in her recent albums. When Maire released her solo albums in 1992 and 1995, she used two (or three) of her sisters as backing vocalists whose voices are similar though different, which distinguished her from Enya. However, after Maire went solo full-time in 1998 she ceased using her sisters as singers, only using for for a few more years, but she began using her own voice in layering. An example would be "Perfect Time," where it is her voice that is divided during the chorus, one singing low and one singing higher in a very Enya-esque fashion. Her most recent albums do not use layering, though there is definitely some electronics at work on songs like "River."

Emmy Rossum
Emmy Rossum is mainly known for her role in the recent film adaptation of "Phantom of the Opera" as well as other roles in cheesy movies like "Day after Tomorrow." She released a solo album in 2007 that she called pop but mainstream music calls New Age (a definition I disagree with because I think of New Age as being very mystical and centered around nature, and her album is anything but that). I've heard most of this album, and she uses layering very heavily, leading some critics to call her a softer version of Enya. Emmy does indeed at some points sound like Enya, except her voice is much softer and more emotional. She relies on layering in every song that I've heard from the album, but she mostly stays in the same key, which sets her apart from Enya. While I could criticize Enya for overdoing her layering and at some points taking away the emotion of a song, Emmy does not do the same thing. Rather, her layered voice, which she recorded hundreds of times, carries the emotion well and does not sound busy or overdone. I highly recommend her as a solo artist, especially her songs "Don't Stop Now" and "Anymore."

Anuna
And last but not least, Irish choral band Anuna. While the above musicians mentioned mostly rely on one person to supply everything for the layering, Anuna uses about fourteen different voices to achieve a similar and haunting effect. I would consider founding member Michael McGlynn a genius for mixing together untrained and trained voices into a beautiful, unified whole. Anuna is basically like Gregorian chants meets Irish music. They range between Catholic hymns, traditional Irish songs, and then more modern compositions, though they always use layering for each one. On songs like "Rising of the Sun," there is the lead female vocalist and then the chorus, which together has the dark sound one would hear in Clannad or Enya. Some good examples of their layering would be "St. Nicholas," "Hin Barra," and "Noel Nouvelet."

I do have a slight warning for my Christian readers, though. I have to be careful especially when listening to Maire Brennan, who, despite not liking the New Age label and prefering a Christian one, is a mystic and has some odd lyrics about spiritual experiences. Anuna often does songs about the Virgin Mary and sometimes New Age songs about nature like "The Wild Song," which I am edgy about.

Anyway, I love it when artists use the layering effect and I believe the credit goes to Clannad for discovering it back in 1982 and then being modified by Enya, who introduced it to a world-wide audience and to other musicians who use her techniques.