establishes a sense of 'home, the lack of a contrasting section results in the feeling of the song 'not going anywhere.' That is, as with the Pink Floyd example, the expectation of 'change or the effect of change' is thwarted. There is no poetic form to the lyric to help further divide the piece into sections, even though there are some lines that recur.
The slow tempo, smooth timbres of acoustic guitar and cello, the low register of the voice, and the constant gestural and harmonic repetition invite readings of depression, regret, comfort, even sedation, from the sound-mass. There is an intimacy to the dry sound, close miking, and delivery of Bill Callahan's voice that draws our focus towards both the vocal and the lyrics. Although swells and dips in the sound-mass are achieved through the addition and subtraction of instrumental layers, and at some level we may perceive these as contributing to a 'journey,' the resistance to sectional change is highly unusual in rock song form and focuses the listener on a static emotional state. In fact, although the static emotional state is a common gambit in pop and rock lyrics, this stasis is generally juxtaposed with the contrast between sections that results in a sense of musical narrative. In 'All Your Women Things,' the sense of tableau or frozen moment of the lyric is mirrored by the structure of the recording. This underlines the extent to which (at least) two streams of narrative are often in operation, and in contradiction, in rock recordings - the quest narrative driven by the imperatives of sectional contrast and a piece's climax, and the situation or emotional state offered by the lyric.
3. Immersive forms
In this type, sectional contrasts that are generally associated with narrative structure may be present but are overshadowed by the character of the sound-mass. A concentration on timbre and texture pushes harmonic elements, a definitive signifier of sectional change, into the background. The voice tends to be a strand in the texture not as differentiated from the rest of the mix, and not as high in the mix, as we are used to in the context of quest narrative forms. The stratification of texture identified by Moore and heard clearly in the examples thus far is compromised, even obliterated in some cases. A feeling of immersion in the sound-mass can result in a more participatory response to the work and encourages more of a physical and sensual interaction than the emotional and intellectual responses prompted by quest narrative forms. This is not to say that physical, sensual, emotional and intellectual responses are separable, but that immersive forms have a particular appeal to the physical and sensual.
PORTAL, vol. 8, no. 1, January
