The Tidal Water has always woven its music out of intricate sonic bundles, not necessarily related to volume, but certainly creating a satisfying sonic weight out of a clever layering of different sounds and instrumentation. “Shadow on the Wall” is slightly different from their usual approach. Although myriad marvellous musical elements are threaded through their grand design, here, one of the significant elements is space.
Yes, there are soaring guitar lines and flowing piano runs, relaxed vocals and shimmering sonics, but rather than have each of them have to find their way in and around and through and beyond each other, this space creates a wonderful demarcation. It is also this space that lets the light in, which gives everything, every note, and lyrical line room to breathe, and it is these spaces that allow other atmospheres to pool, perhaps unbidden between the more planned designs of the song’s structure.
This is new for The Tidal Water, or at least a form they utilize less often. But it works well for them. It reminds us that even when you have plenty of sonic building blocks at your disposal, you don’t always need them and that sometimes it is the space that those atmospheres and anticipations, those pauses, that poise, which is much more impactful than any big beat sound, any incendiary guitar, any soaring vocal, any pounding bassline.
Less is indeed more. How do I know? “Shadow on the Wall” proves it to be true and does so unequivocally.
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