Bass-heavy singer-songwriter (JJ Burnel plays twee pop?)

[cantkeepjohnnydown]

Hello everybody! I've been browsing, sporadically posting on, and occasionally buying at this site for years now but thought I'd make a new account for the purposes of actually sharing my music. As it happens I've just released some of it over at https://gennetmoyle.bandcamp.com/

I choose to call it a demo collection as I don't think the production is quite on par with what I'd expect of myself for an album, but still I think it's certainly listenable. A lot of it could be fitted into a sort of singer-songwriter mould, but there are more instrumentally focused tracks as well, and some folky and proggy touches here and there. Since it is Basschat I'm posting this on I thought I'd put together a small bassist's guide so you can all, simply put, get to the good stuff without all the faff! So, here are the tracks described in terms familiar to our vocation:

 

1. Quite bass-forward, this one. Throughout the collection there's very little percussion, and so I've attempted to use the other instruments in rhythmically engaging ways. So for this track, while the mandolin and bouzouki are mostly arpeggiating away in eighths I've tried to create some rhythmic space with the bass, to keep things from being too static. It's especially noticeable in the early sections. 

 

2. No bass at all, unless you count the accordion. 

 

3. The bass comes in at around the halfway mark. Almost a sort of Glenn Cornick approximation near the dusty end. 

 

4. The bass line really drives this one. Perhaps an unbecomingly big sound for such a gentle tune (this is where the clickbait title of the post approaches believability).

 

5. No bass, again. 

 

6. This one definitely has bass, but I can't say much about my intentions, because I can't remember them! 

 

7. No bass. Sorry!

 

8. For a quick contrast, arguably too much bass — it's double-tracked throughout the song, which wasn't my original intention, but I ended up taking a liking to it. Sort of a strange jig. 

 

9. I don't know how to say this... No bass.

 

10. There's something of the 80s UK indie scene to this one. The bass line is a lot of me stubbornly not playing the root. It's probably impossible to play this sort of music without trying to sound like the late, great Andy Rourke. 

 

11. Bass comes in for the latter part of the song and is played almost as a harmony or lead instrument rather than a bass one.

 

12. This song is the result of struggles with an uncooperative DAW and a terribly outdated interface and sees me attempting to multitrack a decently busy arrangement without a click. All of which is to say that the bass line is really quite nice if you can handle the wildly fluctuating tempo! 

 

13. No bass here, but all the better to prepare you for the next track. 

 

14. If that other song was sort of a strange jig, this is sort of a strange reel, then sort of a strange jig, and then a normal reel! The bass takes centre stage, here. 

 

15. No bass guitar, but the strings on the acoustic guitar played on this song are heavy enough to achieve a decent low end. Give it a try and you might just like it! 

 

Well, there it is, then. If you've made it this far or indeed if you've even given my music a listen, you have my thanks! 

Edited June 27, 2023 by cantkeepjohnnydown