A cover/homage to one of our favorite songs by the late Mark Hollis.
Keith:
There are so many great things about this song. It evokes so many emotions throughout the duration of the song and communicates them so effectively, yet in a pop music context that is pretty universally appealing. When you look under the hood of the song it's entirely genius how all of these elements work together to create something so unique. The arrangement, the constant dramatic key shifts, the "whale" and "bird" sounds, the very busy prominently mixed bass line, the choppy acoustic guitar accompaniment...it's a clever song that's crafted with thought, care, and intention performed well and mixed well. The timbre of the synths chosen alone is a feat worthy of note as each part represents an integral sonic character to the song that when taken away or replaced can completely change the intention of the song. Mark's lyrics are thoughtfully crafted. The melody is dynamic and varied with a significant vocal range which he handles with absolute ease.

Hollie and I chose to keep the tempo the same (it's 126...and a HALF, genius.) but to attack this song in half-time as a way to accentuate what we felt were the more languid nature of some parts of the original. We wanted this to be an interpretation rather than a re-creation of what Mark did. We kept the structure pretty close to the original as I think that's part of what makes the song really successful. In regard to timbre, I wanted to keep this very synth-based and try to achieve what he did with having different synth sections define the characteristic of the song, but put some different melodies and textures in there. As it turns out Mark's range and Hollie's are remarkably similar, so we kept in the same key.



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ixRWvrkUHo

Music by Keith & Hollie Kenniff

Talk Talk - It's My Life (Mint Julep Cover)

Latest:
Helios - Espera: https://ghostly.ffm.to/helios-espera
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Goldmund - The Time it Takes: smarturl.it/ibfvzw

I write music for film and record as Helios, Mint Julep, Goldmund.

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Talk Talk - It's My Life (Mint Julep Cover)

Keith Kenniff