“Our Love” (Jonny Element song) – Queen City Sounds and Art

JonnyElement2_lg — Jonny Element, photo courtesy the artist

Jonny Element’s “Our Love” has a circular structure repeating with intersecting patterns to create a kind of hypnotic tonality that taps into the subconscious and stirring positive memories. In that way it’s a bit like an Adrian Sherwood remix that draws out the essence of a song and uses those musical ideas and fragments to create a dream like echo throughout. Though likely not quite the method used it sounds as though Element wrote a core melody that is in the foreground with two layers weaving in and out to give an almost visual experience in sound the way a filmmaker would use an opacity function in a video editing program to create a compound visual that conveys a depth of meaning. For “One Love” it’s 90s rave electronica with a touch of the dynamic and melodic structure of The Orb’s “Little Fluffy Clouds” and a modern synth pop gloss akin to what Purity Ring has been bringing to more mainstream music. It’s an interesting effect like a half-remembered fond memory shared by people at a particularly good moment in their lives. After the song you can explore Element’s work further and follow his goings on at the links provided.