5 December 2007

cocks versus brains: on musical "quietism"

If people ask me what type of music I like I usually say that I tend to listen to quiet music. Pompous, rambunctious or over-produced music usually has little impact on me. There are many, many exceptions of course, but this is a tendency of mine.

Reading reviews of "quiet" music is, however, a quite annoying affair. Let me quote the end of a Pitchfork review of norwegian band Supersilent: "There's no small talk, because small talk would be distracting, disingenous, and would cover up what's in their minds and hearts-- which is what 8 delivers, pared to its most honest form. Why waste a single breath?" Throughout the entire article the quiet sound of the record is analyzed and emphasized. In this review, as in so many others, metaphors are employed so as to capture exactly how quiet and stern the sound really is. In this case, the reviewer talks about the sound as a representation of Norway plus his experience of not so talkative Nordic people at a Thanksgiving dinner. Oh my. (In Finland, the stereotype of Norwegians is a happy, pleasant person whose life is dedicated to outdoor sports) OK, yes. Supersilent's music is not loud. It is jazzy and groovy, too, but it is not the type of jolly grooves of chill-out radio channels.

Reading this review, I realized how common it is to make a big number out of music being quiet. And what is more, music considered quiet is often described as music stripped down to the bare bones of sounds or melodies ("minimalism"). This "type" of music is described as a reduction, as a more or less conscious effort to bring it down to the most precious, small world of sound. To turn the volume down almost as if that was a project in itself. Obviously, this description may be true of some bands. On some albums, you can really hear the effort, you can really hear the stripping down, the clinical deconstruction. I guess this is the way I react to some kraut music from the seventies. (But this description of course reveals how I react to it: that I find it a tad too elaborated). The image of stern academics who have locked themselves into the studio to make a masterpiece of whispers is sometimes misplaced. Reviewers of particular forms of rock music makes it sound as if everything which does not sound like U2 or Britney Spears or English lad-rock is terribly elaborated, sophisticated music with a certain aim of stretching the limits of how quiet ones music can become.

My point is a banal one: where is the image of whimsical, fun, relaxed and non-pretentious bands who make "quiet music"? Why is "quiet music" so easily lumped together with a craving for authenticity and seriousness (i.e. world-angst)? Perhaps the burden of proof is placed on me: can I mention music that will make this image come to life? Well... Supersilent's album 6 is actually a case in point here. (I haven't heard their latest album yet) Colleen's music is quiet for sure at times, but it is not academic, nor is it particularly melancholy or angsty. Mi and L'au is yet another example. Very unpretentious music. So is Stina Nordenstam. But I wouldn't say that their music express an attempt to sound honest or stripped-down-to-the-bare-bones. If a band sounds as if that is what is going on, then I am immediately turned off. (Music that tries to convince one of what it is that one hears is questionable, however common it is.)

Perhaps I am just tired of an idea about laddish rock which is contrasted with something else so that a very strange dichotomy is born: the jolly, spontaneous music of Oasis and the academic-sounding post-rockers who've read too much music theory and who have a desperate need to give an impression of honesty. (Cocks vs. brains) My suspicion is that this picture is far too simplifying and that it tends to distort some of our experiences of music. How particular rock bands are praised for their straightforwardness, their youth, while other bands are hastily labeled as academic and boring - where a more appropriate description would be that the "lads" make contrived music, while the other band's music expresses curiosity and freshness. I have read far too many articles where youth is understood in terms of "cocks" and where maturity is understood in terms of professionalism and high-brow excursions.

What I need: unpretentious, gritty, fun, quiet music - this would change the picture a bit.
What I don't need: one more review praising the sexual potence of Oasis type of rock or a review trying to pin down exactly to what megaherz the latest pitchfork favorites has turned down the volume.

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