AN EMOTIONAL ROLLERCOASTER // 40 Watt Sun - Stages // Composer Reaction & Analysis

[@Intaminator]

40 Watt Sun can be a tough project to appreciate, but it's gotta be one of my favorite slowcore acts. Patrick Walker also wrote what might be one of the saddest metal records ever with Watching from a Distance by Warning.

[@PlatonistAstronaut]

One of my favourite songs. Heart-wrenching.

[@vladimirzaytsev3284]

FINALLY 40 Watt Sun on this channel! Started to listen Patrick's works firstly from Warning. That would be awesome if you listen to "Watching from a distance" someday.

[@MisterDearly]

I wonder how you'd feel about some newer 40 Watt Sun material. It's mostly acoustic with more instrumentation. Patrick's thing is, in part, working off of a few ideas, but these songs are also shorter. I'd be curious what you think about the songs "Astoria" (Off the new record) or "The Spaces in Between" off their one before that.

[@strtmrgn]

I’m really glad to get your thoughts on this one. As someone who typically listens to black metal, this song feels incredibly heavy, in a heart-sinking way, without requiring metallic instrumentation or production to create weight. To me, this music underpinning those lyrics creates the sound of melancholic resignation.

[@Choob_T]

This week has been a real treat for me so far, been loving the post-hardcore theme (post-hardcore is kind of my musical "home base") and this special selection is great as well. This record and the follow up are very close to my heart. The slowness, the emotion to it, they get me into a headspace like no other band manages. Thanks to the requester, and thanks to you Bryan for your thoughts on it.

[@chopchop080808]

Patrick Walker is just an absolute gem. Just creates a special kind of soul crushing music.

[@mpronmpron7676]

Yeah!❤

[@muskett00]

Loved the patience, but for curiosity I tried it at 1.5 speed and it cemented the loose feeling I had that they sound like Slow Pearl Jam. Even at 1.5 it was still patient. Strangely, at 2.0 speed you realise how lacking in variety the drumming is. Being slow as a focus allows them to be basic, until the end. Having played slowly, it's very hard to keep time. They almost reach the pace of an indie song at double speed

[@patrickschafstein5848]

For me they are a slow R.E.M., I get that feeling specially in the song Pictures.

[@SkrubsTheNeko]

yo im like patrick walkers biggest fan Glad to see you reviewing him

[@SavageIntent]

I think if one didn't know about the Doom Metal past of the band members, one wouldn't associate Doom with this, but since I was already aware, I always think of this band as super mellow Doom in a way.

[@Metal_Vault]

This album is incredible.

[@sharpvonl201]

in terms of the lyrics I interpret them differently. I interpret it as him talking to his partner, his partner has done a lot for them and she doesn't acknowledge the hard silent work he has being putting into the relationship and he is willing to break up with her if she wants to because he loves her

[@SavageIntent]

The main guy from this band was in a Trad Doom Metal band called Warning! the album 'Watching From A Distance' by Warning is so good. I have a false memory of you already reacting to Warning but I checked and you didn't.

[@progperljungman8218]

Critical Reactions' album-Club on Discord did 😁 (Doesn't include Bryan though)

[@hadoken121]

I appreciate the break down of the song but i feel like ya boy missed a little bit of the point of the monotony. I love this song and when i listen to it it only feels about 7/7 minutes long because i'm im such a trance. You're taken in by the tone and the mix of emotions suggested by the layers. So when the patterns repeat you're like ok, i like this. Give me more and let me really let it sink in and develop. And by the time we get the bright change at the end it's like it's lifting you up from the trance it had you in. Giving you a brighter outlook that you weren't expecting or even looking for which mirrors the stagnation of mourning a troubled or failing connection with another person such as in a relationship. Which then in itself is optimistic because it's as though the protagonist of the song is finally breaking through and getting some perspective and closure on the matter and they're allowing themselves to feel again. Not just like they used to, but "like nothing in my life".

[@progperljungman8218]

Like with the Warning, I like the style of playing and love the pairing of doom and "Stipe-like" (R.E.M. vocalist) vocals. But it becomes all to monotonous to me.

[@pietandersen6120]

Sometimes too much repetition is a good thing. If you find the perfect vibe and ambiance as a band, I see no reason not to stick around in it for a while. This is obviously dangerous, because if one of your parts falls flat and you’re going to be treading its water for 5 minutes in a row, it’s going to kill the vibe for the listener completely. Unfortunately, the back half of this song did that for me, the first section was beautifully melancholic, and the sudden switch into section two with a common-tone modulation was unexpected and massive when it happened, specifically because we’d spent the first 6 minutes meditating in this darker tonality with heartbreaking vocal melodies. Unfortunately I just didn’t think the next sections were worth their weight in time, the vamp between two non-diatonic major 7th chords with pick-ups (I think that’s what’s happening) never really does it for me, it’s too happy for my taste. However I am glad to finally know where Patrick Walker got off to, because Warning’s Watching From a Distance is one of my favourite metal albums of all time, and I need more of his music in my life.

[@jonathanhenderson9422]

I really enjoyed the fundamental sound/vibe/atmosphere/ideas of the song, but there's no reason this needs to be 16-minutes. At some point it just becomes background noise because there are no changes. The few changes there are definitely sound immense given how few there are and how long it repeats its main idea, but I just don't think that payoff is worth the time it takes to get there. It's a shame because other than the monotony I really like the music here, but I can't imagining listening to this again. Hopefully the rest of their music isn't this repetitive as I could easily imagine myself loving the band if this is just an extreme.

[@erkkapehto9125]

This is the most repetitious song of their discography. Even I think it repeats too much. Other songs are a bit less repetitious

[@go_went_gone]

Unfortunately (for me) one of the more "weaker" songs by this great band.

[@AA-ou2ye]

First 40 watt album is very good, this album was a big flop in my opinion. This is a side project of the band warning which is traditional doom with funeral doom tempo and the same emotional vocals