Sound & Color

Did I Mention I'm in Advertising?

Sound & Color by Alabama Shakes

Recommended by Crews

My brother appreciates the "soulful production with live and a modern electronic-influenced sound." He also cites the strong pitchfork review: "This is stadium soul with one eye peeking toward another galaxy while hands and feet and throats desperately try to suss out life here on Earth."

Apple clearly agreed with Pitchfork Review's comment on  "peeking toward another galaxy," as they used a 30-second clip from the song in one of their advertisements for iPad Pro, titled, "A Great Big Universe."

First of all, I love this video spot. The images go perfectly with the audio, and the song sounds as fresh and clean as Apple wants the product to appear. Apple knows how to advertise, I tell you.

The song sounds perfect in this 30-second spot, as they're playing nothing but the best part of the song. It's like opening a box of Lucky Charms and finding nothing but the marshmallows. Except, you know, fewer cavities.

(It reminds me of this song being used in this Hilton ad. But I digress.)

It's a risk, I think, to have a 50-second intro in this age of high-speed Internet and multi-tasking and short attention spans.

It works for two reasons.

1) When you're listening to music, especially a slow piece like this, you're not worried about getting to the point. In the fast-paced world of 2016, it's nice to have something that isn't going, going, going all the time. Music is an escape from problems and stress already; why shouldn't it also be an escape from the hectic pace of that day-to-day 9-to-5 life?

2) It's not an intro.

I mean...it seems like one, but bear with me. It's the entire first third of the song; I think it's more than just an introduction. It's the first part of the song, and it is slower the rest, but it doesn't have to and shouldn't be relegated to "intro." It sets the mood, and it's delicate and pretty and important.

At first I was not into the lyrics. I didn't like the repetition of the phrase Sound & Color.

See, the iPad commercial was my first experience with this song. I thought it was funky and smooth and fresh. It disappointed me when the rest of the piece was led by vocals singing the same phrase for a whole minute rather than a vast, echoing electro-xylophone-sounding instrumentation, like what we hear in the commercial.

But now I can kind of appreciate the whole thing.

I like the instruments in the "intro," the percussive instrument in the foreground, the deep electronic sounds in the background, and the way the whole sound kind of vibrates like there's a ringing in your ears.

I like the sense of wonder and optimism in the lyrics.

And I really love the dissonance in this time when they sing sound & color. The rest of the repetitions aren't so bad if you let them fade into the background.

Because they're words, we want to focus on them; because they're the title words, we think they're important. But it's the words in between that carry the most meaning. Let the sound & color repetitions fade and become simply sounds that add color to the musical background and let the other lyrics center stage.

The ending is still a little abrupt for me, kind of like this.

Overview:

Genre:

Soul / Blues Rock

(Or "gospel-punk-meets-Southern-rock-freakout-meets-blues-funk-disco with a tiny bit of free jazz thrown in because why the hell not," as the band would say.)

Favorite Lyrics:

A new world hangs outside the window.

Verdict:
Ain't it just awful strange? (But far from awful.)