Music Interpretation
For this quick project, students were asked to listen to four songs that were played by the professor and draw or sculpt what they heard. When I listened to the songs, geometric shapes appeared in my mind. I could see them forming in a way that resembled sound waves.
1) "Animals" by Baths
The song “Animals” by Baths is a very lighthearted, fun song. Therefore, I used bright colors to mimic its playfulness. For this composition, I drew shapes that I felt resembled the beat of the song. The first shape on the left (it is green and blue) represents the child’s first line in the song. She talks a couple times throughout the song and those are represented with similar shapes. Finally, when listening to the song, I thought of children jumping rope. There chants resemble ones I used to say with my friends when playing on the playground and jumping rope. To show this, I created two large diamonds in the center to represent the path of the jump rope.
2) "Let's Go Surfing" by The Drums
Right when the song turned on, I thought of summer. As it continued to play, I realized it was about a beautiful day and a person’s desire to go surfing with his “woman.” To show the “beautiful morning” I created a giant, yellow-orange sun that rests above the blue ocean. In the ocean are two surfboards. This represents the companionship he talks about throughout the song.
3) "Ribs" by Lorde
For this song, the line, “share the bed like little kids” stuck in my head. To resemble a bed in an abstract way, I used cool, relaxing colors and curved shapes at the bottom. However, she states, “that will never be enough.” Therefore, to juxtapose the curved shapes, I created pointy shapes at the top to represent her emotions.
4) “Oh Baby” by LCD Sound System
When I listened to the song, “Oh Baby” by LCD Soundsystems, I initially thought of a clock and its ticking. Therefore, I created a radial composition with thin lines coming out of the center. The beat also reminded me of traveling through a tunnel which went perfectly with the circular design. I was able to make the composition look like it traveled back into space. Hence, resembling a tunnel. In the song, there is a line that states, “Shot in the dark.” To mimic this, I used cool tones to resemble the “dark.” Then, I created yellow geometric shapes to the right to represent the “shot.”
Music Interpretation
Prof. Brandon Lowery
Micron Pen, Adobe Photoshop
