Motif Rock
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The Motif Rock, also known as thematic rock, it's one of the new styles which one has come expanding and profiling in a slow but relentless way in the last decade.
Characterized basically by the melancholic cadence in the melodies, it's based in the folk and the jazz rock how principal base, the alternative rock and the progressive rock but with some clearly differentiating characteristics.
At the end of the 1990s and with the relevance of British alternative rock bands as Radiohead or Starsailor it was developing - due to these influences - in other Europe countries a genuinely European and personal melodic rock.
In the beginning of the 2000s, some of the most important bands of this style they began to arise in the Scandinavian countries. So also a first steps in Ireland, Holland and diverse European countries.
| Motif Rock | |
| Stylistic origins | |
|---|---|
| Cultural origins |
Early 2000's North Europe
|
| Typical instruments | |
| Mainstream popularity | Moderate. Sometimes confused and melt with the alternative rock |
| Subgenres | |
| soft rock, alternative rock | |
| Fusion genres | |
| jazz rock, folk rock | |
Contents |
[edit] Origin and influences
The word "Motif" refers clearly at the importance of the meaning - so musical how lyrical - of the compositions which derive of this music's style.
The possibility to express in musical terms a reason and a moving point of view about the society that surrounds us is not something new. It was habitual in the rock and hippie bands in the '70s. It was carry on at '80s with the most radical expression of the post punk music and appears again in the early '90s with the alternative bands as Nirvana or Soundgarden, which made of their music a political instrument in a society which they didn't share values and superficial reasons.
Nevertheless, the difference of the Motif Rock bands with these other ones is a lyrical tendency and in different occasions spiritual tendencies that are defending a personal point of view about the music, more close to the peaceful movement to express ideas. At the same time, they conjugate romantic or sentimental personal experiences lightly with that point of view critical with the world in which we live.
If we see the experiences of the past, the fight and the confrontation they don't take to the world toward a better place, but rather they submerge it in the ostracism moving away it more than some goals that were really very praiseworthy in their origin point.
The key of this, should find it in the musical transition that in the 1990s had among the different musical styles. On one hand, we are that certain groups of pop rock and brit pop as Coldplay or Travis who begin to attach to their compositions a lot of lyrical and melancholic load with certain jazzy tendencies and words loaded with social message. The difference with their contemporary is the point of view -social but non moralist- of their words. Developing an epic style with open and elegant sounds.
On the other hand, consecrated bands of 1980s they return adopting some of these new sounds reinventing the style that themselves had already sowed in turn behind years. An example we can find it in the soft rock band a-ha and in the return to the musical origins from the Irish band U2.
Just at the same time, the people called "cultural" musicians, such jazz musicians or the blues players they left to be an exclusive and closed world and they begin to admit stylistic coalitions of totally different concepts, only in quality. I this way, the spiritual base of them also walks among other more popular sounds and they have not repairs in to fuse styles and to investigate new creation structures. This thing which seems trivial, is of vital importance to understand the emergence of the Motif style. Through this mixture taken place among the descending bands of progressive rock, soft rock and alternative rock and those of the learned musicians how jazz, the blues or the jazz rock born the origin of the style.
Some of those first sounds begin to be allowed to see in several compositions of some bands of pop-rock as Coldplay for example. But, differing with this kind of bands and the progressive rock's bands by less incidence in keyboards (changed by an electric piano) and more presence of electric guitars and excellent lead vocals, is not until the moment in which the artists more influenced by the rock and the jazz rock they experienced with this melodies when we can say that it's really a style which begins to be personal in the Nordic countries.
[edit] Development
Motif rock is synonymous of quality. It represents to arrive until a public wide - although maybe not majority - without losing creativity and quality.
Halfway between bands of alternative rock of great quality; just like Radiohead, Stereophonics, Rialto. Teachers of the folk rock; as Jeff Buckley, Damien Rice, Gary Jules, Neil Young. Kings of the jazz rock; as Jeff Beck, Stanley Clarke, John McLaughlin and geniuses of the progressive rock; Pink Floyd, Genesis, Rush, Marillion, is in Scandinavia where begins to arise some of the bands which will mark the musical tendency of the melancholic Motif Rock clearly.
Without to lose the original sound of rock, the tendencies of quality and intimate take from an unavoidable way to these bands in way to elaborate compositions of a great emotive load. It performs an inspired and melancholic tunes giving a touch of high quality and brilliant melodies to each note with supreme care and dedication. Words of deep meaning, social content and in many occasions so spiritual lyrics touching the "sacred" tunes, they compose a conceptual work reaching the most important moment with the edition of the album The Second you sleep of the Danish band Saybia, published in the year 2002 with the label Medley records.
Maybe we could speak about this album like the most important, although there's many more bands in that same time who reached the same creative conclusion. In the Nordic countries they began to emerge a several bands who - always in English - they began to give form to the movement "Motif", or "thematic".
In the last years, some bands of all around Europe, just like Brainstorm (Latvia), Sparklin June (Denmark), Nexther List (Ireland-Spain) or Grad Avenue (Denmark) they're beginning to bet with this style which fuses great quality, lyrical, spirituality, musicality and creativity. Without a doubt we are, in the dawn of a musical style completely "European" and own, born of the roots of our own identity and culture. It is the hour when those who have something to say raise their voices.
[edit] Important bands
- Saybia
- Sparklin June
- Pernilla Anderson
- Nexther List
- Brainstorm
- Andreas Ahlenius
- Grand Avenue
[edit] External links
- [1]Saybia
- [2]Andreas Ahlenius
- [3]Pernilla Anderson
- [4]Nexther List
- [5] Klaus Hempler
- [6] Sparklin June
- [7] A Balladeer
- [8] Grand Avenue
[edit] Notes and references
- Motif Rock, the style wich comes of cold. Author: Angel Parrado. Popular Butllet 2007 Dec.
- [9] Motif
