STACK April 2016 Issue 138

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Hi ring this month;
see for full details.
Sydney: 02/04/16 Brisbane: 08/04/16 Adelaide: 16/04/16
Melbourne: 23/04/16 Perth: 30/04/16
the Adelaide Symphony Orchestra in
Adelaide (with whom Drinking From
The Sun, Walking Under Stars Restrung
was recorded, along with the Adelaide
Chamber Singers Choir), the Melbourne
Symphony Orchestra in Melbourne, and
so on. The noticeable difference between
the group's previous Restrung project –
2012’s The Hard Road: Restrung – and
the new release is the inclusion of short
reprises, which are solely orchestral
reinterpretations of particular tunes. “At
some point in the record we wanted the
orchestra to just have their moment, where
it wasn’t layered with rap, hip hop drums
and basslines, and existing elements of
the song already there,” Pressure says. “It
was just a really nice chance to have some
of our music played just by the orchestra
without all the back tracks.”
There was no solidified plan to spotlight
different parts of the orchestra for
different tracks; Pressure says everything
blossomed outward naturally as the
orchestra’s unique properties were
spitballed around with each song. “I
love it all,” Pressure says. “I dig a lot
of funk and jazz and that sort of thing.
So you hear the horn section, a gang
of them together, and that’s where the
balls and the power is. And the strings
are where the emotivism is, it’s like the
heart of the orchestra. You’ve got all these
crazy things – like a French horn, there’s
nothing that sounds like that. And the
glockenspiel. I just think the glockenspiel
adds such a crazy vibe to a song that no
other instrument can, in that realm of
sound. They’re all such unique sounds, that
you don’t get to put into music unless you
work with an orchestra.”
Separating the layers of the original
tracks – which have been plucked from
the Hoods’ last two albums, aside from a
couple of newies – proved to be a giant
undertaking, involving the better part of a
year of collaboration with composer Jamie
Messenger sending simple MIDI files back
and forth (because it’s “not cheap” to have
an orchestra play every single demo you’ve
envisioned, Pressure explains).
“Some of the tracks are quite full,” he
says. “When you’re adding a 32-piece
orchestra and a 20-piece chamber choir
to a song that’s already a complete song,
with so many instruments and sounds
going on, things can get lost. That was one
of the hardest parts of the project: figuring
out what we could and couldn’t get rid of
in the original song. Sometimes you’d strip
everything out and just have the drums and
orchestral part and you’d lost the groove of
the song, the heart was gone. In others it
was fine, it worked perfectly.”
In taking these songs on tour, the
Hilltops have a very short amount of
time to rehearse with each orchestra
before game day. They meet the choir
and instrumentalists 24 hours before the
show, and there’s a lot of mutual trust
involved. Pressure acknowledges the
intensely professional approach of these
musicians, and dovetails into an extended
explanation of the set-up: “To get a seat
in one of these orchestras you have to be
exceptionally talented,” he says. “They’re
used to playing the sort of conditions
where they’ll get the sheet music that
week, learn it at home, then go over their
parts so they’re not playing it super cold,
and they’ve got their part down before the
dress rehearsal. Then they’ll hear it in the
context of the other music and the other
players in the orchestra. Then there’s the
conductor and the live drums – we’ve got
Plutonic Lab on drumkit as well as Debris
spinning a backing track – and we’ve got
a live piano on top of the orchestra. So,
there’s so much going on on stage. You’re
making me nervous talking about it.” He
laughs roundly and concludes: “It’s going
to be amazing – we’ve put months of
preparation into it.”
You hear the horn
section, a gang of
them together, and
that's where the balls
and the power is
13
FEATURE MUSIC
MUSIC
Glockenspiel –
I Love It
Part of the tuned percussion section,
the glockenspiel is a cute little metal
xylophone; you probably thrashed a rainbow Fisher-Price
version in the doctor’s waiting room a few years ago.
Through The Dark Reprise features the glock, but it best
matches Sia’s wicked lead vocals and the bold trumpet in
I Love It.
Timpani –
Speaking In Tongues
Four big-bootied drums, sat on the
floor in a semi-circle – but unlike your
regular drums (such as bass and snare), these ones can
be tuned. The player uses soft-headed mallets and usually
performs rolls to build the note, or occasionally bangs
them dramatically, George of the Jungle style. You’ll
recognise that bashing effect as Charli 2na begins his
verse in Speaking In Tongues – the player is knocking out
the bass notes, in time with the bass drum. They’re also
isolated right at the start of Cosby Sweater, matching the
syncopated beat.
Vibraphone –
Shredding The Balloon
Basically a xylophone, but with metal
bars instead of wooden. Aside from
giving a softer sound, the vibes player also has a sustain
pedal under the instrument’s stand. It’s very pretty but, like
the xylophone, is a royal pain to move anywhere (don’t try
busking with one). You can hear its sweet, subtle sounds
right at the beginning of Shredding The Balloon, before
those eerie vocals kick in.
Flute –
Cosby Sweater
We know the Hoods love flute (see their
break-out hit The Nosebleed Section),
and they use the wind instrument to awesome, cheeky
effect where it carries that little lead melody lick across
Cosby Sweater.
Piccolo –
Lights Out
The piccolo is the flute’s little bro: tiny
and agile and twirly, like it’s being
played by Mr Tumnus. In Lights Out, it balances out the
super low, heavy piano and the haunting choral descant
beautifully.
Cello –
Won’t Let You Down
Size-wise, the cello sits between the
viola and the double bass. Hot tip: just
envision that part in School Of Rock where Jack Black spins
the cello to the side and says “CELLO, you’ve got a bass!”
In addition to its gorgeously rolling, marching snare drums,
Won’t Let You Down gives the cellos and violas a good
work out.
Restrung’s Orchestra
Breakdown
Drinking From The Sun,
Walking Under Stars Restrung
by Hilltop Hoods is out now.