PLEIN AIR 09: Make Me Cry
Jacob Collier is known for his out-of-this-world vocal arrangements and mind-bending compositions, but a few of his songs exhibit his knack for writing elegant, simple melodic ballads. "In The Real Early Morning" off of his first album, In My Room, was my first exposure to this shade of his genius, composed of a bold, hymn-like melody and a gentle song texture. Later, on his album Djesse Volume 2, Collier explored close, intimate, and acoustic sonic spaces through folk music, raw recordings in living rooms, and at times, pared-back production. Make Me Cry proceeded from that back-drop: primarily acoustic, and structured as a ballad.
Throughout the song, Collier moves freely through five distinct diatonic tonal centers: D Ionian, C Ionian, Ab Aeolian, D Dorian, and F Ionian. But rather than feeling confused and disjointed, the composition is united by a simple melody and ends up a marriage of modulation and accessibility. Perhaps these multiple planes of musical experience are one of the greatest strengths of Collier. His ability to take the extreme frontiers of complex tonal harmony and distill them into a form that the average person can still enjoy is a hallmark of his compositions on Djesse: Volumes 1&2, and to a lesser degree, Volumes 3&4.
For today's Plein Air, I journeyed to a nearby park, sat underneath a Lemon Eucalyptus, and played to the birds and flies. Enjoy!
