Blending is just like writing lyrics or finishing up the song, rearranging and arranging.
Trust me, the only real way to understand 'Chic' is in highfalutin terms. Our chord progressions were based on European modal melodies. I made those early 'Chic' records to impress my jazz friends.
I am about the arrangements and the layers of depth in the music.
Conceptually, I've always gravitated towards arrangements that weren't just presenting one idea. I like to look at my songs as having a main part, an interlude, and almost like another song at the end.
I do seem to like to combine the dramatic emotional warmth of strings with the grooves and body business of drums and bass.
I don't really focus on if what I'm writing is pop or not. I just write music and then I try to figure out how to arrange the things that I write.
I like to combine the dramatic emotional warmth of strings with the grooves and body business of drums and bass.
It had a very good arrangement by Herbie Hancock, but it used existing pieces.
Of course, you can't teach songwriting. You can only encourage people to do it and help them to sort out for themselves what they want to achieve, and get a list of exercises together that improves the craft and gives them more access to the craft of writing good songs.
I like to explore a lot of textural, arrangement aspects in the studio.
My songs are more arrangements than they are songs.
You know, if I wrote the arrangements two years from now, they would probably be a lot slicker.
Some composers end up writing for the guitar as they would write piano music or, more often, harp music. It isn't the same.
Simon Hale, the British arranger, does all string and wood arrangements on my records.
I know texture is really important, but I think texture and stuff precedes songwriting a lot of the time these days.
