Simplicity is one of the most important characteristics in powerful music.
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Kathleen Edwards is a Canadian singer-songwriter, and her most recent album, “Voyageur”, has a beautiful song called “House Full of Empty Rooms“. Every once in a while, I notice a song that reminds me of how important simplicity is to the beauty and power of music. “House Full of Empty Dreams” is a great example of this. Complexity in music is wonderful when it works, but more often than not the elegance of something simply stated takes music much further, and has much more staying power in the longterm.
“House Full of Empty Dreams” is simply scored, with keyboards, acoustic guitars, bass and piano. The structure is clear and simple: a verse format with a bit of a refrain, an instrumental version of the verse that melds into a 5-bar bridge, then finishes with a verse and a modified verse as an end.
The lyrics are poignant and simple, but at the same time almost devastating: two people living their lives together, but wondering who might be the first to admit that they are out of touch with each other, wondering what the rest of their lives will look like as they grow apart. This is more than just a “I don’t love you anymore” kind of lyric. It’s a powerful coming-to-terms with the difficulty of fixing loveless relationships.
The beauty of simplicity means that these thoughts are not shouted out over grinding, angry instruments, but uttered softly and sadly. The beauty of simplicity means that the melodic phrases are easy, elegantly contoured and expressive. And the beauty of simplicity allows the listener to clearly imagine the scene being played out between two people wondering what love really is.
It’s a great reminder that music is simply a vehicle. Your job as a songwriter is to create imagery, and your music is the machine that does it. Your song needs a message, and your music is what makes the message clear, transporting it to the listener.
The beauty of simplicity should mean one thing to songwriters: stay out of the way of the message.
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Written by Gary Ewer, from “The Essential Secrets of Songwriting” website.
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