Squicky Drone in Godspeed, You Black Emperor's new album
October 31, 2015 9:25 AM Subscribe
My husband and I were enjoying the new 'Godspeed, You Black Emperor' album, entitled 'Asunder, Sweet and Other Distress.' We were digging it. Then we got to song #3, "Lamb's Breath"... at some point in the song (hard to say when, and I'm too spooked to listen to it again) the keyboard drops into a long droning sound...
The sound had an intense visceral effect: my stomach dropped, my skin crawled, my hair felt like it was about to fall out. I'm a high-strung person anyway, but this was about to send me into a panic attack.
I asked my hubby to change the song, and he suggested, rightly, that we see where it goes. But eventually the bodily sensation that the droning produced became unbearable for me. Hubby registered my distress and turned the song over.
Has anyone else had a strange visceral skin-crawling effect with this song? Is there a science behind its frequency? What the heck happened?
The sound had an intense visceral effect: my stomach dropped, my skin crawled, my hair felt like it was about to fall out. I'm a high-strung person anyway, but this was about to send me into a panic attack.
I asked my hubby to change the song, and he suggested, rightly, that we see where it goes. But eventually the bodily sensation that the droning produced became unbearable for me. Hubby registered my distress and turned the song over.
Has anyone else had a strange visceral skin-crawling effect with this song? Is there a science behind its frequency? What the heck happened?
Yikes. That song is 10 minutes long and it sounds like one long drone to me. I don't know what part of the song you are referring to but I can tell you that I found the entire thing deeply annoying.
I have had very panicky feelings (the kind you described) while driving and while listening to sort of fast but not upbeat songs with electronic sounding music. It produces a very strange frantic feeling in me. I can't turn the song off fast enough in those instances and when I finally do hear silence, I am awash with pleasure and relief.
I don't know the science but it's definitely not just you.
posted by cranberrymonger at 10:08 AM on October 31, 2015 [2 favorites]
I have had very panicky feelings (the kind you described) while driving and while listening to sort of fast but not upbeat songs with electronic sounding music. It produces a very strange frantic feeling in me. I can't turn the song off fast enough in those instances and when I finally do hear silence, I am awash with pleasure and relief.
I don't know the science but it's definitely not just you.
posted by cranberrymonger at 10:08 AM on October 31, 2015 [2 favorites]
Your description reminds me of people's reactions to infrasound, which has been suggested as the explanation for some "spooky" sensations.
From those articles it sounds like you wouldn't get infrasound from normal music, but maybe some people are more sensitive to other frequencies as well?
posted by hsieu at 10:31 AM on October 31, 2015 [1 favorite]
From those articles it sounds like you wouldn't get infrasound from normal music, but maybe some people are more sensitive to other frequencies as well?
posted by hsieu at 10:31 AM on October 31, 2015 [1 favorite]
Best answer: Are you referring to the drone that starts at around 7:30 and continues until the end of the track? It sounds like a low F with amplitude modulated by a very slow (like, 0.2 Hz) low-frequency oscillator, and I think that subtle oscillation is what's creeping you out. It's hypnotic and feels almost like breathing.
posted by theodolite at 10:36 AM on October 31, 2015 [3 favorites]
posted by theodolite at 10:36 AM on October 31, 2015 [3 favorites]
Response by poster: You guys are awesome. thank you for your responses.
Cranberrymonger - It is interesting: the drone runs into the track afterwards, and I finally got the nerve to try to see its resolution. Eventually new sounds and notes are introduced, and as they came in, the drone recedes. As it did, I was totally awash with relief, like a tide coming into shore.
Theodolite - Thank you! Yes - that is it exactly!
After posting the question I also considered the fact that I've had some serious ear damage in my left ear that makes it difficult to hear low or deep notes. Maybe that might have something to do with it.
The whole experience made me feel like a tuning fork. But what do I expect? The title of the album has "distress" in it--I'm sure its intentional! The rest of the album is fabulous.
posted by Dressed to Kill at 10:47 AM on October 31, 2015
Cranberrymonger - It is interesting: the drone runs into the track afterwards, and I finally got the nerve to try to see its resolution. Eventually new sounds and notes are introduced, and as they came in, the drone recedes. As it did, I was totally awash with relief, like a tide coming into shore.
Theodolite - Thank you! Yes - that is it exactly!
After posting the question I also considered the fact that I've had some serious ear damage in my left ear that makes it difficult to hear low or deep notes. Maybe that might have something to do with it.
The whole experience made me feel like a tuning fork. But what do I expect? The title of the album has "distress" in it--I'm sure its intentional! The rest of the album is fabulous.
posted by Dressed to Kill at 10:47 AM on October 31, 2015
Does the drone at the beginning of The Dead Flag Blues do the same thing for you?
posted by LionIndex at 1:03 PM on October 31, 2015
posted by LionIndex at 1:03 PM on October 31, 2015
if it makes you feel any better, that just freaked my cat the fuck out.
posted by nadawi at 2:37 PM on October 31, 2015 [2 favorites]
posted by nadawi at 2:37 PM on October 31, 2015 [2 favorites]
When I saw them live back in September I could feel that drone in my chest. Listening to the song now I can totally see why someone could find that section unnerving. Absolutely amazing album, though, and one of the best live shows I've seen.
For what it's worth, some of the stuff by GY!BE really sets my dogs on edge, to the point where I switch to headphones instead of my computer speakers so that they'll calm down.
posted by ralan at 2:51 PM on October 31, 2015 [1 favorite]
For what it's worth, some of the stuff by GY!BE really sets my dogs on edge, to the point where I switch to headphones instead of my computer speakers so that they'll calm down.
posted by ralan at 2:51 PM on October 31, 2015 [1 favorite]
Starting with the first part of this track, much of what I feel/hear in it is located on the back of my skull, way behind my nose and mouth. It feels like a parallel sensation to ASMR--not exactly the same, but similar. Then, by the time that breathing drone settles in, I still am feeling much of it back there. I wonder whether that would have been the case if I hadn't listened to the first part of the track and had jumped right in at 7:30.
posted by umbú at 7:20 PM on October 31, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by umbú at 7:20 PM on October 31, 2015 [1 favorite]
I get the exact same crawling-out-of-my-skin sensation from the sound that plays during the THX logo. I am 31 years old, and will still throw my hands over my ears when I hear it.
posted by sarahsynonymous at 7:31 PM on October 31, 2015 [3 favorites]
posted by sarahsynonymous at 7:31 PM on October 31, 2015 [3 favorites]
Explosions in the Sky and Mogwai both do this during their live shows… seems to be a post-rock thing and I wouldn't be surprised if GY!BE did the same. It's extremely visceral and polarizing.
posted by a halcyon day at 8:09 PM on October 31, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by a halcyon day at 8:09 PM on October 31, 2015 [1 favorite]
Best answer: Of interest-
‘You can produce a harmonically beautiful structure that feels positive and religious, but you can also introduce atonal elements—noise, you might say—and a kind of ‘negative sacred’ opens up,’ he says. ‘There’s still a feeling of the transcendence of the self, but instead of it being a feeling of universal harmony, there’s a feeling of nothingness, of chaos—and there’s something menacing about that. Being exposed to that sort of distorted, menacing drone can feel threatening. It persists, it nags at us, but some people enjoy that too, so it’s not simply threatening, there’s a kind of negative euphoria.' -Marcus Boon, from Monotony and the sacred: a brief history of drone music
posted by jammy at 6:28 AM on November 1, 2015 [4 favorites]
‘You can produce a harmonically beautiful structure that feels positive and religious, but you can also introduce atonal elements—noise, you might say—and a kind of ‘negative sacred’ opens up,’ he says. ‘There’s still a feeling of the transcendence of the self, but instead of it being a feeling of universal harmony, there’s a feeling of nothingness, of chaos—and there’s something menacing about that. Being exposed to that sort of distorted, menacing drone can feel threatening. It persists, it nags at us, but some people enjoy that too, so it’s not simply threatening, there’s a kind of negative euphoria.' -Marcus Boon, from Monotony and the sacred: a brief history of drone music
posted by jammy at 6:28 AM on November 1, 2015 [4 favorites]
Response by poster: I LOVE your answers!
umbu - I tried jumping in today, to see what would happen, and the effect was almost immediate. I feel it down my arms, at the front of my head and chest. Having said that, I think the effect was much more pronounced when listening to the track from the beginning. Markedly so.
Part of that has to do with duration. The sensation itself was off-putting, but from experience I understand that some other music will come in and fill the void... but then GY!BE withholds, and withholds and withholds. And my brain went into that animal-place where it was just lie "get it off. get it off. please stop this sound. GET IT OFF. WHAT IF THIS SOUND LASTS FOREVER? CAN THIS SOUND KILL ME?" etc.
LionIndex - I don't get that sensation from Dead Flag Blues. I've never had 'music' do that to me. It was the first time ever.
Jammy - wow!! That's fascinating!
I wonder what the animals are picking up that we aren't?
posted by Dressed to Kill at 7:27 AM on November 1, 2015
umbu - I tried jumping in today, to see what would happen, and the effect was almost immediate. I feel it down my arms, at the front of my head and chest. Having said that, I think the effect was much more pronounced when listening to the track from the beginning. Markedly so.
Part of that has to do with duration. The sensation itself was off-putting, but from experience I understand that some other music will come in and fill the void... but then GY!BE withholds, and withholds and withholds. And my brain went into that animal-place where it was just lie "get it off. get it off. please stop this sound. GET IT OFF. WHAT IF THIS SOUND LASTS FOREVER? CAN THIS SOUND KILL ME?" etc.
LionIndex - I don't get that sensation from Dead Flag Blues. I've never had 'music' do that to me. It was the first time ever.
Jammy - wow!! That's fascinating!
I wonder what the animals are picking up that we aren't?
posted by Dressed to Kill at 7:27 AM on November 1, 2015
This thread is closed to new comments.
So, in short, stuff like what you described can happen because of a set of uniquely occurring factors. I bet if you consciously relax, the next time you hear the music, only the memory will evoke some of the same response but not the music.
posted by Oyéah at 10:01 AM on October 31, 2015 [2 favorites]