While choosing a record to analyse, I decided to go for something from an album that had kept me hooked for the past month. Today we’re looking at instrumentation and arraignment in “Star” by Mitski.
In this track, she builds tension by layering synthesisers and other instruments. The song starts with a sub-bass synth (you can hear the LFO circling[1]), followed by a sustained note played much higher up (might be the same synth or something else) until her voice with wet reverb applied comes in accompanied by mellow electronic piano playing sustained chords.
At the 30-second point, another layer of synth comes in – a dreamy pad. The next instrument to enter the song is a virtual organ holding a sustained chord an octave higher.
Live drums are introduced at 1:08, and the instrumentation goes down to them + the three synthesisers from the beginning + vocal melody. This is the point at which I feel the song falls into the second section. The instruments start to come in once again.
Gradually, live strings emerge – an orchestration of violas, violins and double-bases. This selection adds more of a “dramatic” feeling to the song and fluctuates in its velocity throughout, dictating the intensity.
The next layer is another high-octave organ[2] doing a chromatic run over the song. Strings also build up in velocity, though it is getting hard to make out separate instruments due to the mixing choice.
The strings, synthesisers, and drums fade out or exit the song one by one until the only track left is the pad that came in second, holding one sustained note. The song comes back to the energy level it began with.
[1] Stolet, Jeffrey (2009). “31. Low-frequency Oscillators”. Electronic Music Interactive, 2nd edition. University of Oregon.
[2] Mitski (2023). Mitski – Star (Behind the Song). [online] www.youtube.com. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Kiknae8H_c&t=198s [Accessed 24 Oct. 2023].