This is probably one of the tensest melodies played on a melodica, ever!
Awash in reverb, here the melodica drifts languidly atop Peter Hook’s bassline and interplays with synths throughout the song. This 1981 track from New Order features the melodica in darker post-punk atmospherics. As the sounds begin to go out of phase the short delay thickens the sound of the melodica until the melodies begin to separate and weave in and out of one another. Reich composed the piece by playing a simple melody on the melodica, looping it on two separate channels and slowly moving them out of phase to create a slowly evolving rhythmic movement, not unlike Terry Riley’s Clapping Music or Reich’s earlier Come Out, for example. Reich (who is still living) is remembered for being a forefather of many of the concepts deployed in electronic music and music production today, principally looping and tape manipulation. The piece makes use of looping as much as it does the melodica, and its soft attack lends itself well to Reich’s studio trickery. Not just a toy for pop musicians, the melodica was used in one of legendary composer Steve Reich’s earliest forays into minimalism, 1966’s Melodica. That little hook is one of the most memorable melodies of the track and the melodica excels at it. We also hear it as part of the blend of instruments in the call-and-response of the pre-chorus. It fits well in this mix, a sort of “ Qu’est-ce queue c’est que ça?” in Steely Dan’s studied yacht rock. On Steely Dan’s classic Peg it finds its way into the opening riff, played by Donald Fagen, alongside a Clavinet and brass. When it comes in in the choruses it provides as much of a hook as Albarn’s (2-D’s) famous lyric “ I ain’t happy, I’m feeling glad“.īrits aren’t the only ones with an appreciation for the melodica it’s made its way into American music, too. Here it gives the track some dub authenticity and fits brilliantly with Albarn and Del the Funky Homosapien’s voices. One of its most prominent features is on the iconic Clint Eastwood. Its use as a layer on top of other instruments is adept, as the melodica tames the sharp and precise sounds of the eBow and synth with its more human tone.Ĭoming out of the other corner of the Britpop battle, Damon Albarn has used the melodica all over the Gorillaz discography. In both cases, the off-kilter sound of the melodica adds to the disorienting feeling of what is one of Oasis’ more druggy tracks. It actually has two uses in the song: at the beginning of the track, where it is layered with a drone on an eBow, and as one of the main hooks in the refrain after the choruses, where it sounds as if it is being layered with a synthesiser (or perhaps the eBow again). In one of the most legendary songs to come from Britpop, Oasis’ Champagne Supernova, the melodica plays a starring role.
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