Comparative Reality

There's a type of song that builds slowly, then bursts into a crescendo of sound.

There's a name for this sort of thing, I'm sure of it.

I was thinking about these songs this morning on the drive to work. The classic Rock example (and, of course, also the Classic Rock example) is "In the Air Tonight," where Phil Collins lets the song go for a while, and then the drums come bursting in.

The New Pornographers do something similar on "The Bleeding Heart Show," where the song builds to a huge, glorious "hey la" chorus.

Some songs front-load the buildup/release: "Money for Nothing" is an example. "In the Evening" (Led Zeppelin) is another example of that: Wispy, Eastern-sounding strings float around for a while, then Robert Plant's wail of "In the eeeee-vening..." And the rest of the band comes crashing in.

Those are the examples I can name off the top of my head. They're all great, of course, and make for a nice change from the standard verse-chorus-verse setup. Not that I'd want every song to make me wait for the good parts.

I'll have to try to think of others. Or, more likely, get distracted and forget all about it for a few months.