Chuck HinsonWild Strawberries - PNAU
May 29th 2008 00:13
If there is one thing that gets on my nerves it's absolutely shocking songs getting publicity and praise they don't deserve. One particularly good example of this is Wild Strawberries by PNAU.
Firstly, the song doesn't even use instruments. Every sound is synthesised, even the 'vocals' have heavy effects on them in an attempt to cover up the blandness of the so-called singer. Melodically, the song is hopeless. It has no musical value, it is just merely some random guy saying "I''d rather go and pick some of those wild strawberries, wild strawberries, pick 'em up, come pick 'em up". I mean, come on, a pre-schooler could come up with better lyrics about wild strawberries than that. To make things worse (if that's possible) these are the only words featured in the song. A measly 13 words (including the joint phrase of "pick 'em"). Poor effort is all I can say, very poor effort. The lyrics don't even portray a message to the audience. I mean, isn't pretty much the whole point of writing songs to convey your thoughts to a wider audience? The only message I can gather from the lyrics is that he likes strawberries, particularly wild ones, or he enjoys going foraging. All in all, very poor effort lyrically and melodically.
Now harmonically the song sinks even lower. A series of seemingly random synthesised notes arranged in a step-wise pattern repeated for the about half the duration of the song in total. Nevertheless, being only there for about half the song shows that the 'artist' (for want of a better name) has finally used some variation. I'll give him a fairy clap just for that. Other than this repetitive pattern on the synthesiser, PNAU also incorporates a different synthesised sound that follows the melody of the 13 words. Now, I know that i previously said that melodically this song is hopeless as it barely has a melody. I acknowledge that it does have a melody because he has to hit notes otherwise his voice wouldn't harmonise with the synthesiser, but being in the techno/pop genre I think it is safe to say that the sound engineer took the time and effort to bump the singers voice up and down in pitch to match the synthesised notes.
Rhythmically this song is pretty hopeless as well. Being a drummer myself, I am outraged every time I hear a synthesised drum kit. That is the main factor that brings techno and pop genres down: the inability to use REAL INSTRUMENTS. The drums in this song are boring, simple and repetitive, typical of the techno/pop genres. A simple 4/4 beat is repeated throughout the whole song. It does display some variation though, which is good to see, but this variation is very little eg. half time, fills (or at least that's what they're meant to be). Most of the notes too are just short quick notes which really doesn't add any flavour to the song. The only thing rhythmically that's keeping this song alive is it's tempo. It has a fast, driving tempo that I think is the only thing that makes this song feasible. Slow the tempo right down by say 30bpm and the song will be the most boring thing on earth, more boring than watching a rock erode. This driving tempo keeps the song flowing to satisfy it's stereotypically short attention spanned audience.
All in all, this song is hopeless. It has a boring melody that is lyrically clueless with no meaning, it has a harmony that is repetitive and overly simplistic and rhythmically it is just like every other techno/pop song: basic 4/4 backbeat repeated throughout the whole song with slight variation typically at the end of each section. The only thing going for this song is it's fast tempo. So to give it a rating, I'd have to give it a 2/10, just because I am a big fan of strawberries, they're a delicious fruit.
Firstly, the song doesn't even use instruments. Every sound is synthesised, even the 'vocals' have heavy effects on them in an attempt to cover up the blandness of the so-called singer. Melodically, the song is hopeless. It has no musical value, it is just merely some random guy saying "I''d rather go and pick some of those wild strawberries, wild strawberries, pick 'em up, come pick 'em up". I mean, come on, a pre-schooler could come up with better lyrics about wild strawberries than that. To make things worse (if that's possible) these are the only words featured in the song. A measly 13 words (including the joint phrase of "pick 'em"). Poor effort is all I can say, very poor effort. The lyrics don't even portray a message to the audience. I mean, isn't pretty much the whole point of writing songs to convey your thoughts to a wider audience? The only message I can gather from the lyrics is that he likes strawberries, particularly wild ones, or he enjoys going foraging. All in all, very poor effort lyrically and melodically.
The 'wild strawberry' PNAU is talking about
Now harmonically the song sinks even lower. A series of seemingly random synthesised notes arranged in a step-wise pattern repeated for the about half the duration of the song in total. Nevertheless, being only there for about half the song shows that the 'artist' (for want of a better name) has finally used some variation. I'll give him a fairy clap just for that. Other than this repetitive pattern on the synthesiser, PNAU also incorporates a different synthesised sound that follows the melody of the 13 words. Now, I know that i previously said that melodically this song is hopeless as it barely has a melody. I acknowledge that it does have a melody because he has to hit notes otherwise his voice wouldn't harmonise with the synthesiser, but being in the techno/pop genre I think it is safe to say that the sound engineer took the time and effort to bump the singers voice up and down in pitch to match the synthesised notes.
Rhythmically this song is pretty hopeless as well. Being a drummer myself, I am outraged every time I hear a synthesised drum kit. That is the main factor that brings techno and pop genres down: the inability to use REAL INSTRUMENTS. The drums in this song are boring, simple and repetitive, typical of the techno/pop genres. A simple 4/4 beat is repeated throughout the whole song. It does display some variation though, which is good to see, but this variation is very little eg. half time, fills (or at least that's what they're meant to be). Most of the notes too are just short quick notes which really doesn't add any flavour to the song. The only thing rhythmically that's keeping this song alive is it's tempo. It has a fast, driving tempo that I think is the only thing that makes this song feasible. Slow the tempo right down by say 30bpm and the song will be the most boring thing on earth, more boring than watching a rock erode. This driving tempo keeps the song flowing to satisfy it's stereotypically short attention spanned audience.
All in all, this song is hopeless. It has a boring melody that is lyrically clueless with no meaning, it has a harmony that is repetitive and overly simplistic and rhythmically it is just like every other techno/pop song: basic 4/4 backbeat repeated throughout the whole song with slight variation typically at the end of each section. The only thing going for this song is it's fast tempo. So to give it a rating, I'd have to give it a 2/10, just because I am a big fan of strawberries, they're a delicious fruit.
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Comment by lachlan
MYSTRO MUSIC
I actually like this track. First of all Pnau is duo not one guy in case you were wondering. I don't know whether you are a big fan of dance music or not, but to me the song is just like any other dance track. As far as the amount of words in the song most dance tracks don’t have a lot of words. Just look at acts like Daft Punk or The Chemical Brothers they are some of the biggest dance duos in the world and a lot of their lyrics are minimal. As for the content of the lyrics, I disagree that lyrics have to tell you a full on story or send a message. Also I think they are conveying their thoughts to the audience, They might not be about something you care about but to Nick and Peter obviously they are important. After reading a piece about the song written bye Nick and Peter, the song is just about Psycho / Wild Strawberries. The song has to do with when they were 'high' and maybe they had an idea about strawberries going wild. At the end of the day Music or the art that these musicians make is subjective. In my opinion Wild strawberries is good but their best track is called With You Forever, Head to their Myspace www.myspace.com/pnaupnau and have a listen.
Comment by Anonymous
Comment by Anonymous
Seriously, it's a dance track, what on earth do you expect? I think they just wanted to make a catchy track, and that they did. I'd rather go and. pick some of those. wild. strawberries!
Have you tried dancing to it?
That is THE most important thing. A song isn't a mathematical equation. You are analysing it like you have a music essay due tomorrow. Do you?
If you do, pick a song that tries to be something 'deep'.
I'm just gonna keep on dancing.
Btw, what classifies a real instrument? I made a song once completely comprised of vocal harmonies and a spoon hitting a wine glass. I guess that's not real music then.
Comment by Anonymous