Little By Little
Studio version -
From The Basmenet -
The first thing that struck me upon the initial listen was how similar the bridge was to the bridge in Reckoner, at least in concept. You know, the "routines and schedules will drug and kill you" part? Totally serves the same 'brooding refrain from the groove' purpose as the "because we separate like ripples in a blank shore in rainbows" part from Reckoner. Thus my impression of LBL was always colored by the feeling that this had been done better before, despite that I actually like the lyric in LBL more. And the groove isn't bad either, the consistent change of tonal focus from D to Dm as the chords descend in the verse is somewhat offsetting, (which is totally appropriate at this point in the album) perhaps even more perverse is the change in syncopation throughout the song, making it hard to tell where the first beat begins unless you count it out the entire time (which I do on the regular and you'd imagine it'd detract from the listening experience but I think it totally enhances it). The chorus in this song is absolutely infectious no matter where the one is anyway.
But let's talk about the annoying aspects of Little by Little. First off it starts with that ridiculous rolling cowbell thing...now I don't mind that the cool complex bleeps and bloops are sparse here because honestly I'm jilted enough by the dark tonal shifts - but then there's this god damn comic rattle going on and it totally offsets what could be a really dense or dark atmosphere. I don't know if that's what they were going for but it's like contradicting the negative aspect of the song enough to make what was negative about it in the first place seem unwelcome rather than dominant, sometimes juvenile when it could be menacing. Secondly, it's mixed too damn soft.
Thankfully the cowbell is mitigated by the that (insert eastern string instrument here) rolling off those odd chords throughout. This is undoubtedly jonny's doing and it just screams hippie which is always endearing from the british. Like, what are you trying to make world music now? The sound is intriguing, though. Also the weird cloudy synth blob at the end of the bridge is relishable, probably Ed but I think he contributes guitar to this song so I could be wrong. Can anyone figure out what Thom's saying all cut up behind the "routines and schedules" bit? Might be important, I can't put my finger on it quite yet.
Finally we have the live version, and I'm defaulting to the FtB performance here because although I've heard some performances that upstage it, the videos don't deliver the proper sound quality to do it justice. And if you haven't seen the actual video of them playing it you should just watch the entire King of Limbs From the Basement session on AustinBrock's youtube profile. It is a revelation. Anyway, the primary difference on this version is Colin's prominent bassline which now drives the song and relinquishes it as a groovin jam vessel. You can tell everyone on that performance is into it and that gives the song a new vitality. Clive Deamer's addition also helps hold the metric map in place, allowing you to get lost in the chorus a little more. The younger Greenwood thumps across some pretty badass chords around 4:32 of this video before proceeding into a killer improv run down the scale ten seconds later. And if you're into any soul music, I swear to god in their live sets Colin will thrown down random soul basslines the keep the song jamming for a couple more bars after it traditionally ends - I saw him make a nod to Curtis Mayfield in person, and on the youtubes I believe I've caught him vamping James Brown and Sly and the Family Stone. He's my favorite member.
7.5/10
Little By Little
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