Week 14: Adeem - Volume In The Ground (2011)

Narrative is exceedingly rare in music, popular or otherwise. Though moderately present in short-song format (especially in country, folk, and, if we’re generous with our definitions, blues) it’s virtually unheard of in the format of a full album, in spite of the fact that most popular music is directly derived from the traditions of opera and musical theater. These forms of lyrical songs, as opposed to earlier vocal music, form the basis for most Western music, especially the music of the early British Invasion and the Blur/Pulp-style Britpop bands of the 90s.

Most narrative music is done in the style of a character sketch. Eschewing any kind of plot or supporting characters is an obvious choice, considering the first wave of such songs were in a period dominated by singles. Even Frank Sinatra couldn’t completely alter the field; though he invented the modal concept album in the mid-50s, it wasn’t until The Beach Boys and The Beatles era of pop music that people began valuing LPs over individual singles. Both of those bands helped further the idea of the album as art form and coherent package by producing “all killer, no filler” albums, the likes of which were virtually unheard of outside of collected editions of classical symphonies or musicals. Both bands also helped further the idea of the concept album, presenting both Pet Sounds (“a teenage symphony to god”) and Sgt. Pepper (a tribute to British musical theatre) in language both familiar to potential listeners and grounded in traditional thought.

It’s important to note that none of the above albums comprised a full narrative, and only a fraction of the songs included on them (“What’s New”, “Sloop John B”, “She’s Leaving Home”, and a few others I’m probably forgetting) included any plot at all. All of the albums were concept albums only in that they had some congealing element/style.

In fact, true narrative albums only began appearing in the late-60s, with Tommy and The Pretty Things’ S.F. Sorrow. These albums kicked off a brief vogue for full-on narrative albums that started in the early 70s, often by prog musicians like Genesis or Rush. Such albums all but died out when punk and New Wave kicked off the back-to-the-basics approach in the late-70s, and Styx’s woefully terrible album Kilroy Was Here ensured the camp status of such attempts. Metal bands were the only ones that dared venture into such muddled waters, with albums like Operation: Mindcrime being some of the few plot-focused successes in the modern scene.

The rarity of narrative albums isn’t exactly surprising, simply because it’s very difficult to manage without descending into comical excess. Since pop music functions best in 3-to-4 minute bursts, an artist or band that wants to commit to a plot-driven album needs to find a way to effectively divide it up. The alternative, long, ‘epic’ tracks that can span more than 10 minutes, is universally dismissed by the mainstream, and, more importantly, makes the album impossible to play on the radio without relying on creative DJs.

That element of radio play also frustrates even the best musicians, who attempt to tell a full, imaginative story only to have their label attempt to sell out-of-context snippets of it. This is disappointing to both artist and listener, as the audience is simply receiving a tiny piece of a fully realized whole. That’s not fun to listen to for anyone, and that translate into poor sales and producers eager to disabuse their musician charges from embarking on their fantastic tales in the first place.

There’s also the fact that most narrative-concept albums simply aren’t very good. Musicians, especially rock musicians, are practiced at getting emotional points across, not themes and subtlety. Rock music in general only rarely lends itself to subtle expression, so most plot pieces end up bombastic and over-exaggerated. The lyrics are vague and the plot’s a joke. That makes it very easy to parody, mock, and dismiss, which is exactly what late-70s musicians did.

That being said, there was, as ever, an exception to these general statements: rap. While punk was concerned with blunt emotion and New Wave with surrealism and detachment, rap is a more populist movement, concerned directly with people. The first rap songs to be revered in popular culture and among other rappers weren’t novelty hits like “The Birthday Party”, but character and community sketches like “The Message”. Since rap shared punk’s aversion to full-length albums (as well as a generalized dismissal from most record labels), these narratives were constrained to songs, but they were still narratives.

So perhaps it’s not all that surprising that one of the most successful narrative albums I’ve heard, in any genre, is a rap album. The lyrics for Volume In The Ground aren’t freely available online thanks to the album’s independent nature (and I’ll do something to alleviate that lack in the next few weeks, I promise) so the actual plot is a bit difficult to trace. A basic summary is that the album concerns itself with a self-contained mythology, in which the newest member of a family of gravediggers is traveling through America to put ill-at-ease souls to rest (I’ll put up a more detailed summary once I finish transcribing the lyrics).

What makes Adeem’s album more successful than some of its predecessors is the flexibility of the narrative. Much like The Who’s “rock operas”, Tommy and Quadrophenia, the actual through-line of the plot takes a backseat to depicting episodes in the life of the main character, ranging from a conflict with a snake oil shilling medicine-man to an example of his ghost busting job. There are also songs devoted simply to the general philosophy and mindset of the grave digger, as well as a song describing his origin story.

Even the most devoted lover of full albums, like myself, for example, is going to want to put their collection on shuffle to get some random variety. This album acknowledges that modern tendency by sticking to its episodic structure and making each song not only a whole unto itself but also a fully realized musical piece. While prog albums in the narrative style tended to make the songs seamlessly transition into one another to enhance the symphonic feel and maintain pretensions, Volume side-steps the pitfall.

This song-by-song focus also greatly aids the lyrics of the album. By concerning itself with character over plot, Volume can keep its narrative focus without slaving over a detailed plot that can fill a full hour of music. I can’t detect three distinct acts or even a dramatic climax (though that may appear when I go back to do a full lyrical analysis) but these are conventions for other mediums. Music demands its own, unique approach.

This is, in essence, what makes most musical narratives falter: attempting to build a story based on the conventions of film or novels. It’s a ridiculous idea, akin to adapting a book to film by breaking it up into discrete chapters. A story has to be written for its medium. A plot album would be better inspired by the conventions of TV, which is similarly reliant on characters and a consistent language of presentation. However, even this comparison falls a bit flat due to the difference in time constraints.

That issue of time is one reason I think rap is more apt for the attempt of music-delivered plot; the rapid-fire delivery necessitated in the genre certainly helps the issue of lacking the time to convey one’s point. The other advantage is shared with folk music: lyrical emphasis. Rock and pop are, in the end, all about the power of melody and harmony, with lyrics typically taking less of a focus. Rap is more musically focused than folk thanks to the heavy production typical to the genre, but the best examples of it still use this only to enhance the rapper’s delivery and flow.

Moving away from this dry conversation, let’s talk about the rhythm and flow a bit more. I’m a fan on minimal production styles, so the most impressive track to my mind is “Unlucky Seven”, which has barely any backing track aside from strong percussion. This is, by and large, representative of the rest of the album, which rarely departs from the model of acoustic instruments (ranging from violin to guitar) and a strong beat, as well as vocal samples modeled, in all likelihood, off similar samples from Moby’s Play album. This fits well with the literally down-to-earth story of the album, steering away from the space age noises common to most modern rap albums.

It’s this distinctive sound that is, inevitably, Volume’s greatest strength. As much as I may enjoy Adeem’s lyrics and the album’s general mythology (which reminds of happy childhood years spent reading Bleach and Garth Nix’s Sabriel series), the production and style of the album is what drew me in. The lyrics, characters, and thematic elements of the album have helped reward the attention I’ve given to it, but it’s the earthy sound that makes me actually enjoy it. The general sound is also essential for keeping the album’s mood alive; the best narrative albums are the ones that can weld the basic story, style, and mood of the music together into a consistent whole. In this, the plot-album is quite similar to classic concept albums, in that the mood is key.