Thrice - Wood and Wire

Thrice are one of the best bands at blending odd-time signatures into their tunes, changing between them smoothly and making the odd sound 'right' regardless of its odd step. This track utilizes measures of 4 and measures of 7. I've written about some tracks that seem to just blend time signatures for the sake of complexity. When the transitions and feeling of the odd-time are as smooth as this you can tell it's been done on a purely artistic basis. Wood and Wire is a beautiful atmospheric track enabled by some really neat production.

I quite like the quirk they included at the beginning of this track. "Hey, it's still like really low in your thing right?" That must be the guys in the studio going about recording this track. It's quiet enough to sound like an 'easter egg' that you can easily skip over with your ears. Regardless, Wood and Wire is quite an intimate sounding track (as we'll get into more with the vocals), and these extra words behind the music resonate with me as a Thrice fan. The overall sound of the track is very much centred on the 'being in the room' experience. This, along with the clicking of sticks to count in certainly compliments that vibe.

The music grows from relatively defined drums, bass, guitar and organ to a washy wall of sound mixed with some glitches and analogue distortions. The dynamics change for the finale, leaving the vocals out and bringing the instrumental elements up to a climax of intensity.