3. The song “It Takes a Lot to Know a Man” was written and performed by Irish singer Damien Rice. It was released on his third album in 2014. Before the release of his album, Rice suffered a break-up from his band member and singing partner, whom he loved. He was known to be suffering mentally and emotionally during the recording of the album. In terms of the song’s musical characteristics, the song is quite slow but haunting. First, it is interesting to note that the texture-hierarchy maintains monarchy until it shifts into a democracy at the last verse. A three-part harmony or more occurs in the last verse where Rice overlaps each lines. Speaking of the melody, the song sounds to be all in minor keys. Second, the texture-density of the song shifts from being sparse to dense. This occurs in the instrumentals after all the verses are sang. What is interesting here is that the instruments and sounds are added on top of each other while the other sounds are playing, which like what he did with the last verse. The wideness of the timbres in the song gives of this dense texture-density. This goes well with the heaviness of the vocals, which I find to be
3. The song “It Takes a Lot to Know a Man” was written and performed by Irish singer Damien Rice. It was released on his third album in 2014. Before the release of his album, Rice suffered a break-up from his band member and singing partner, whom he loved. He was known to be suffering mentally and emotionally during the recording of the album. In terms of the song’s musical characteristics, the song is quite slow but haunting. First, it is interesting to note that the texture-hierarchy maintains monarchy until it shifts into a democracy at the last verse. A three-part harmony or more occurs in the last verse where Rice overlaps each lines. Speaking of the melody, the song sounds to be all in minor keys. Second, the texture-density of the song shifts from being sparse to dense. This occurs in the instrumentals after all the verses are sang. What is interesting here is that the instruments and sounds are added on top of each other while the other sounds are playing, which like what he did with the last verse. The wideness of the timbres in the song gives of this dense texture-density. This goes well with the heaviness of the vocals, which I find to be