Meter reader
The review of the Dismemberment Plan reissue over on Pitchfork has got me revisiting Emergency and I. I’m realizing that, after nearly a dozen years, I still have no idea what time signature “Gyroscope” is in.
It’s almost 7/8, but there’s this weird half a beat thing. Is there even such a thing as a 7.5 measure? So I decided to finally get to the bottom of this — by Googling “gyroscope dismemberment plan time signature.” There’s a debate over here as to whether it’s in 7/8 (which I’m pretty sure it isn’t), 15/8 or 13/8. Someone over here suggests it’s 15/16. The last one sounds most right, but it’s still tough to count.
Advertisement
They’re just cutting off the last eighth note every other measure. A measure of 4/4, a measure of 7/8 (15/8 would be the same thing, but why count it like that?). They use that trick a lot.
Not that I’m belittling their time tricks.. they do that so well, and their drummer is so great at leading them through it. He’s great anyway — even a 4/4 jam like “Ellen and Ben” has a sweet sweet drum part.
Concur with Chris.
I just tried to count along. 1, 2, 3, 4 then 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7. The only times I’ve landed on the downbeat is when I’ve screwed up counting. Also, are you saying they’re changing which note gets the beat from measure to measure? I DON’T UNDERSTAND!
For some reason I feel compelled to chime in 4 months after you wrote this. I saw the post but never tried to figure it out. But for some reason I decided to do that today- Chris is right- a bar of 4/4 and a bar of 7/8. So in 8th note terms it’s 8/8 and 7/8. For the verses at least. But you have to remember to be counting 8th notes, not quarter notes. There are spots in there where they stay in 4/4 for a few bars though, I think. The way I do it is just tap the 8th notes with my hands and count as I play along rather than just listening & trying to keep up.