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Slanted beats, enchanted communities: Pavement's early phrase rhythm as indie narrative

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  19 June 2017

David Heetderks
David Heetderks*
Affiliation:
Oberlin Conservatory, 77 West College Street, Oberlin, OH 44074 USA E-mail: dheetder@oberlin.edu
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Abstract

Previous studies of indie music from the 1980s and 1990s have noted that it uses a number of stylistic markers – involving production values, singing style instrumentation and lyrical themes – to convey difference from a perceived mainstream. However, the ideal of difference also influences other aspects of songwriting. As a case study, this article examines early songs by the highly regarded indie band Pavement in which irregularity in phrasing and hypermeter supports a narrative of differentiation. Recurring strategies for creating irregularity include thwarting expected closure at the ends of phrases, using the sounds of words to project conflicting cues for grouping boundaries and creating highly irregular hypermetric lengths. These metric and phrasing devices, when heard in the context of songs, often have vivid narrative or expressive implications.

Type
Articles
Information
Popular Music , Volume 36 , Issue 2 , May 2017 , pp. 216 - 232
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2017 

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Discography

Pavement, ‘Summer babe (winter version)’, Slanted and Enchanted. Matador Records, OLE 038-2. 1992 Google Scholar
Pavement, ‘Here’, Slanted and Enchanted. Matador Records, OLE 038-2. 1992 Google Scholar
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