Tar-ris’s recent release Wild Love appears on the Salve EP. The choice of titles create an interesting beginning to the experience of the EP, with “salve” either meaning to hail, or to be healed. If this is the case, then titles such as Wild Love could be said to be the constituent parts of salvation put forward by the EP’s title, proving to be an interesting concept on which to base their work.
With this, there is an overarching sense of drama to the music. The first this is put forward is through the use of multiple elements of various contemporary genres present in the composition of the song. The aesthetic of the recording seems to be of the lo-fi, bedroom pop world, and until the trap style hats enter halfway through the verse, the song seemed to be veering towards synth-wave because of the choice of kick and snare samples. There is no clear indication of genre until the track begins to build in the pre-chorus, at which point the song is firmly placed in the EDM world, building until the euphoric release of the chorus that is ever present in this style of music.
Tar-ris plays with ideas of tension and release through their mature arrangement choices – not purely through the build up and release of the chorus/drop. The trap hats, though ostensibly out of place when first heard, provide a seamless transition from the chorus to the second verse, projecting a further feeling of release and a certain emotion subsiding. This is apparent in other areas of the song, with repeated chordal patterns and lyric structures, reflected in the cyclical nature of the melody writing.
The spatial elements of the music also contribute to the dramatic nature of the music. The track is incredibly sparse, both in instrumentation and of musical material. There are only a handful of instruments utilised; focusing on a repetitive piano-based chord progression, side-chained synths, drums, and, of course, a vocal. Tar-ris’s use of breath as a percussion element and bird sounds in the chorus, coupled with the piano loops, creates a cinematic undertone that ultimately adds to the overarching drama of the music.
The rest of the EP follows suit, with the second track Goodbye acting as a continuation of the former – similar in composition, although this time with auto-tuned vocal glitches akin to the more recent style of Bon Iver. Runaway closes the EP in a similar style, presenting the listener with a well-rounded, consistent work.
Fans of Solomon Grey, Bon Iver, or even Nero might enjoy this music.
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