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In music, a repeat offender is the kind of person that person that gets fixated on one track. Most likely, that track is just one on an entire album of good songs. Repeat offenders are dangerous people and their taste should not always be trusted because of their natural proclivity to obsess and become hopelessly biased.
Nevertheless, this morning I became a repeat offender while listening to Past from the band Professor Penguin. Previously, I have written about the band and you can find those articles here. However, today while washing the morning's dishes I was revisiting the album and got struck by this rather simple tune in a way that never happened before.
What I like so much about this song is the simplicity of it's structure, and yet, how interesting this simple form is. In general, 96.7% of pop tunes are structured like this: verse, chorus, verse, chorus, bridge, chorus, finish. In contrast, Past breaks this very dominating mold by offering a single verse and then a one line chorus repeated ad infinitum.
I like the orchestration of the band and the wet, reverb heavy guitar tone. I enjoy upper register piano accompaniment during the first statement of the hook and then the sharp snap back to silence after the crescendo of the minimalist guitar solo. This is stark, clean, and interesting song writing. Past is an uncommon example interest created by form; not volume.
"It makes me think, that you want to go to come back – not to go."
Professor Penguin: Past
Have you ever been a repeat offender? What song did it to you and why? Leave us a message on the comment board. We love to hear from the readers and it's been way too long since we had a chat. You dig?