Ghostly longing: Tonality as grieving in Bell Witch’s Mirror Reaper
2021; Intellect; Volume: 7; Issue: 2 Linguagem: Inglês
10.1386/mms_00049_1
ISSN2052-4005
Autores Tópico(s)Musicology and Musical Analysis
ResumoMirror Reaper , by the funeral doom metal band Bell Witch, is an immense 83-minute composition in which tonal organization plays an essential role in enhancing and creating meaning. Little analytical attention has been paid to doom metal; armed with a flexible conception of theories of tonal harmony and my full transcription of the album, I show that slow, repetitive music and rich engagement with musical details are not mutually exclusive. I present an analysis in which the tonal drama centres around slowly shifting bass support for a persistent melody F natural. At first, this F appears as a dissonant ninth over an E♭, then as a hollow fifth above a B♭ and finally as a consonant major third above D♭. I understand this progression as a sonic analogue for the grieving process that, according to interviews with the band, is the album’s main focus.
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