The Suburbs: Reviewsing Pt. 1: Structure Porn

This post is a continuation of this intro, mostly the theory behind the album's structure, and some of how it lends to the listening experience. Structural tricks like these give me, at least, some sense of arrival, both from song to song, with doubling/grouping, and overall, in the splitting. They also allow an artist a more complete control ("ok, this pair will be 9:27, this will be 9:55, but this will be 6:02! ha!") over the frame of their work. If you're going to handle a concept as general (and as blasé?) as suburban life. The record can take its time and be deep without boring, by placing an idea between two songs (beginning, modern, emptiness/without...).

This split in half thing, it's definitely a convenience, but as I'll note it adds a theatricality to the work; more consequentially, it frames the transition from a more optimistic first half to more pessimistic second half (or at least, more peppy to more somber). Pairing gives us two sides of one idea and illustrates all the muddy paradoxes living within these suburban paradoxes. Elsewhere, gapping accentuates how each song tries to get off the ground so earnestly, and seems to fade and need a restart (fadeout then tutti). "I can finally begin" at track 12? Despite all yearnings to hold on to something, we drive past it instead, and the spectacles get further apart. The shortest distance of all is between arguably the most contrasting tracks, Sprawls I and II, as if a last hurrah to save something totally broken.

Splitting. Take the album in two halves of 8 tracks: each takes a bit over a half hour (33:04 and 31:10); each begins with a "Suburb" song with the "in the suburbs I..." vocal lick; each is flanked by a Pt1/2 set of songs. In good Act 1 / Act 2 fashion, the first is longer, and the second has a coda/restatement to the ideas presented throughout. Separating the acts is an 18 second fadeout, the longest by far after Modern Man's 12 second fadeout and Half Light's 13 second fadeup. I do also think that the first half is more musically boisterous, while the second is more clearly depressed (as fuuuuck).

Doubling. For the most part, the songs fit very well into pairs or groups (themes mine):

• 1 and 2 (begin): by a 9 sec violin tone, and also by "first"/expository style. 9:27.
• 3 and 4 (modern): by the word "modern", starkly. 9:55.
• 5 and 6 (without): by a 9 sec string tone. 6:02.
• 7 and 8 (half-light): by name and 9 sec synth tone. 8:40
• 9: an interlude and underture, marking the transition between halves. 4:45.
• 10 and 11 (destiny): by 11 sec synth tone, and by "first they built the roads...". 7:10.
• 12 + 13 + 14 + 15 (shadow): linked all by themes of light and dark. 17:48. Also:
• 12 + 13: theme of technology and communication (weak, I think)
• 13 + 14: listen for the 12 sec rumbling sound effect between these two
• 14 + 15: title.
• 16: postlude and coda. 1:27.

Gapping. Unlike Neon Bible building to No Cars Go's climax, the Suburbs deliberately reduces the energy of its songs by increasing the length/use of fadeouts and gaps as time passes (measures based on track divisions; fadeouts are grooves while dying away is a riff or note):

• 1 to 2: transition; 9 sec
• 2 to 3: silence, then fadeup; ~5 sec
• 3 to 4: 12 sec fadeout, then tutti; 12 sec
• 4 to 5: tutti; ~0 sec
• 5 to 6: transition; 9 sec
• 6 to 7: dies away, then fades up; 20 sec
• 7 to 8: transition; 9 sec
• 8 to 9: fadeout, then tutti; 18 sec
• 9 to 10: dies away, then tutti; 15 sec
• 10 to 11: transition (within a fadeout); 11 sec (24 sec)
• 11 to 12: fadeout, then tutti; 15 sec
• 12 to 13: dies away, then tutti; 32 sec
• 13 to 14: faint transition (within a dying away); 12 sec (32 sec)
• 14 to 15: silence, then tutti; 3 sec.
• 15 to 16: fadeout into silence, then tutti; 35 sec
• 16 out: fadeout; 20 seconds