Task 1: Three Minute Song Production (70%)

Task 2: 1000 Word Write-Up (30%)

Introduction

“Corporals” is a trip-hop track inspired by the killings of Derek Wood and David Howes in Northern Ireland during the Troubles, known as the “Corporals killings”. The shows the events from the perspective of Father Alec Reid, who watched and tried to intervene as the men were beaten and summarily executed. The image of him administering the last rites to David Howes as he dies is particularly poignant. The lyrics present him reflecting on it years later as the killings haunt him in nightmares:

There are several samples used in the track:

• Drum top line – Paul Simon’s “50 Ways to Leave Your Lover”
• Snare, choppy reversed drums – Thelonious Monk’s “Blue Monk”
• Talking in intro and interlude – A reading of Jonathon Edward’s famous sermon “Sinners in the hands of an angry God”
• Atmospheric tremolo noise – a scream sample.
• Vocal “Whoa!” – James Brown’s “I Got You (I Feel Good)”

The vocal samples have fairly minimal processing on them – the “Whoa!” is sped up and pitch shifted to be less intrusive. The sermon is EQed with a low pass, with some subtle delay and saturation. The atmospheric tremolo heard in the beginning and end of the track is a time-stretched scream sample from YouTube, pitch shifted down with a 1/16 note tremolo and plenty of reverb.

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The original “50 Ways” drum part:

I slowed it down and chopped it up like so:

I then bounced this out, added some EQ, reverb and saturation and quantised it to a 1/16 note swing pattern:

I then added a kick and hithat for the full verse drum pattern.

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The original clip from the drum solo in “Blue Monk” was this:

I reversed it, pitched it up 2 semitones and added tape delay and EQ for a choppy loop similar to the drums on “Machine Gun”.

I also sampled the snare from this solo

Creative process

• I started with the drums, building the loop off the “50 Ways” sample. I wanted that slow shuffle and gritty, lo-fi drum samples typical of the genre (Andersen, 2005).
• I then worked out some chords on piano – I chose the key of F minor to reflect the sombre subject. I wrote 2 chord progressions for the chorus and verse, exploiting harmonic contrast to keep the piece interesting and evocative (Arena, n.d.).
• I designed a couple of synthesizers – I wanted a deep but rich bass similar to “Hyperballad” and a sweeping string-like synth:

Chords:

The distinctive “swoosh” in this synth comes from a ramp LFO on white noise:

There’s an LFO on the fine pitch control of oscillator D for a string-like vibrato:

Bass:

The bass was largely a preset on ES2, but I increased the glide length for a sliding bass.

• I wanted a string section – I was inspired by “Paradise Circus”, “Hyperballad” and “Off To the Races”. I tried to develop the rhythms and inversions of the chords in the different sections which makes it more interesting (Salant, 2024)
• I wrote it in Musescore and exported to MIDI because it’s easier to read sheet music than piano roll

• I wrote a new, trap-style, drum pattern for the chorus, inspired by the beat switch on “A&W”. The demisemiquavers on the hihat give this section lots more energy
• I structured the song in a verse/chorus style, with an I wanted a long intro like “Teardrop” but the time constraints meant I had to cut it down to 26 seconds.
• Verses and choruses are 8 bars each, which feels natural in Verse/Chorus form (MasterClass, 2021). However, I used occasional bars of 2/4 to create a structural interest and start verses earlier than the listener expects.
• Lyrically, I was inspired by the PJ Harvey and her more political songs like “The Wheel” and “The Words Maketh Murder”

• I recorded some scratch vocals with an SM7B to get comfortable with the melody and rhythms, then rerecorded the next day once I had a clearer idea of what worked.
• I also DIed a guitar for another melodic layer. I was aiming for the full, distorted tone on tracks like Portishead’s “Glory Box”, and used an emulation of Marhsall’s Silver Jubilee 2555.

Commerical potential

Trip hop as a genre has been making a comeback in the early 2020s as people look back to the 90s (Reynaldo, 2023), so this track has good potential to perform commercially. Songs like FKA twigs’ “Girl Feels Good” from her 2025 album Eusexua and Fontaines DC’s 2024 hit “Starburster” display clear trip-hop influences (Korukcu, 2025; Krueger, 2024). Sampling is also an integral part of trip-hop’s DNA, so this element was relatively easy to carry off (Reynolds, n.d.). Some trip-hop tracks have entered public consciousness through being the theme for TV shows, such as Massive Attack’s “Teardrop” and “Paradise Circus”.

However, lyrically it isn’t the easiest to market commercially. Although many songs have been written about the Troubles (Pietzonka, 2008), the feeling that made songs like U2’s “Peace on Earth” such a hit is thankfully not as raw in 2025. Many of these songs also tend to have more republican sympathies, so it’s unlikely a song depicting the death of British soldiers as a tragedy would be as well received as one telling the IRA’s side of the story. Most songs in the top 40 deal with romantic issues, which are much more relatable for listeners (Bartholomew & Madanikia, 2014).

The long introduction (26 seconds) is also much too long for song to perform well in the age of streaming. Gauvin (2018) observed song lengths and introductions dropping over the years of recorded music, something he credited to the modern online “attention economy”.

In conclusion, while the overall style and sonic texture of the song could perform well commercially, the structure and lyrical content means it’s unlikely to be top 40 hit.

Bibliography

Andersen, R.B. (2005) Groove in Trip Hop Music. https://pdfcoffee.com/groove-in-trip-hop-music-pdf-free.html [Accessed 8 May 2025].

Arena, D. (no date) Songwriting Tip: Creating A Standout Chorus. https://www.songwriting.net/blog/bid/52623/songwriting-tip-creating-a-standout-chorus [Accessed 8 May 2025].

Korukcu, K. (2025) FKA Twigs – “Eusexua” | English. Metal Magazine. https://metalmagazine.eu/en/post/fka-twigs-eusexua [Accessed 8 May 2025].

Krueger, J. (2024) Song of the Week: Fontaines D.C. Have a Trip-Hop Panic Attack on ‘Starburster’. Consequence, 19 April. https://consequence.net/2024/04/fontaines-d-c-starburster-song-of-the-week/ [Accessed 8 May 2025].

Léveillé Gauvin, H. (2018) Drawing listener attention in popular music: Testing five musical features arising from the theory of attention economy. Musicae Scientiae, 22(3), p. 291–304. Available online: https://doi.org/10.1177/1029864917698010.

Madanikia, Y. & Bartholomew, K. (2014) Themes of Lust and Love in Popular Music Lyrics From 1971 to 2011. Sage Open, 4(3), p. 2158244014547179. Available online: https://doi.org/10.1177/2158244014547179.

MasterClass (2021) What Is Verse-Chorus Form? Examples of Verse-Chorus Form in Pop, Folk, and Hip-Hop. MasterClass, 25 August. https://www.masterclass.com/articles/what-is-verse-chorus-form-examples-of-verse-chorus-form-in-pop-folk-and-hip-hop [Accessed 8 May 2025].

Pietzonka, K. (2008) CAIN: Music: List of ’Troubles’-Related Songs, by Katrin Pietzonka (2008). https://cain.ulster.ac.uk/bibdbs/music/kp08songlist.htm [Accessed 8 May 2025].

Reynaldo, S. (2023) Trip-Hop—or Something Close to It—Is Making a Comeback. Nina. https://ninaprotocol.com/posts/triphopor-something-close-to-itis-making-a-comeback [Accessed 8 May 2025].

Reynolds, S.C.W. (no date) Trip-hop | Origins, Genre & Artists | Britannica. https://www.britannica.com/art/trip-hop [Accessed 8 May 2025].

Salant, D. (2024) Chord inversions 101: How to create smooth movement in your music. Native Instruments Blog. https://blog.native-instruments.com/chord-inversions/ [Accessed 8 May 2025].

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