Sean Kilmer

2/25/15
Rhetorical Analysis
Nick Murphy, also known as Chet Faker released his first full album in
2014. Built on Glass is an album filled with songs centered on his strong
vocals. The songs also include slow synthesizerbased beats, and on some
tracks he experiments with guitar chords and a slightly faster tempo. In an
interview with Swide.coms Ben Taylor, Faker said that, glass was this
perfect metaphor for [this album] because glasses are fragile but they are
also strong. In order to fully appreciate the strong nature of the songs, a
listener must be in a calm state of mind. Yet, the listener must also be
attentive to the intricacies of each song because they are very subtle, and
therefore easy to miss. The albums first song, Release Your Problems,
successfully puts the listener into this calm mood, and for careful listeners,
previews the understated sonic elements of his songs. The song does so
through a relaxing beat, sounds that fade in and out, and strong, almost
haunting vocals.

The song starts of with a multitude of slow paced synth chords that
echo for a second after they are struck. This creates a dream like effect
before Faker even opens his mouth. After about a minute, the beat comes to
a momentary climax, and the song goes silent for second. This climax is
similar to a sound that is used to signal time travel or teleportation in

television shows. Therefore, the climax signals transportation to a different

place. Faker wants one to forget about their current surroundings and join
him on the journey that is his album. He wants the listener to focus on only
his album, since it would be underappreciated if treated as background
noise. The climax is effective in intriguing the listener, and when the song
goes silent, they are curious to find out what will follow it. At this point, Faker
has the best chance of pulling in the listener for a minimum of a song or two.
To capitalize on this vulnerability and hook the listener, Faker relies on his
beautiful voice.

The first thing the listener hears after the silence is Fakers voice
unaccompanied by a beat. This is a bold move, since his past releases
highlighted his voice with wicked and soft beats. However, the risk pays off
because his voice does not need the crutch of a beat, at least for a few
seconds. He lets out a woahhhh, youre takin all I own, before the beat
drops, and the smoothness of his voice is comforting. Its an inviting voice
that exudes empathy and melancholy. Nevertheless, after that line he slides
in a beat made up of soft shakers, bass drum, and mellow synth. The beat is
at a slow pace, and similar to the one before the climax. It easily takes a
backseat to his vocals and highlights his lyrics while still making the listener
bob their head.

Faker certainly prefers relaxed beats with synth, yet thats not the
most relaxing part of the song. He is a master at inserting background vocals
that fade in and out. These are extremely key to the song as they add a
dream like effect to it. While singing, the feet are stumbling, walking down
the street in the light, he adds an oh oh oh oh oh in the background. This
is only his fourth line of the song, and by this point, he has already added
background vocals twice. In the next line, he adds another set of ohs.
However, this time they serve a slightly different purpose. When they were
added the first time, they were much calmer and the same pitch. But the
second set of ohs is added over the strongest line of the song up to that
point. He wails, walk on or die, in increasing strength, and the ohs
increase in strength with him. Whereas the first time they were used to
create a haunting effect, the second time they are used to reinforce his
powerful line.

However, the best use of background vocals in this song is during the
chorus and hook. While singing the lines, Eyes to see the break in your
way / Release your problems / Release your problems / Release your
problems, he doubles his voice. He added his own voice to the background
of those lyrics, and it makes it seem as if two of him are singing the song.
This choice makes the song much more trippy, and bends the rules of reality.
It is common for singers to harmonize with others, but rare for them to
harmonize with themselves. In the same interview with Swide.com, Fake said

that, writing music is not a linear process at all, you have to sit down and do
something and then another thing. Its just kind of like a self-conscious flow
of energy, like tapping into a feeling you have in music. He certainly
conveys a haunting feeling with his echoing voice, and it is obvious that
when he recorded this he was trying to relax and eliminate stress. This is
evident because of not only the beat, but also the lyrics as a whole. He uses
a string of ohs again during the last Release Your Problems, along with
drawing out the ems of problems, which gives that line more emotion and
creates a stronger connection with the listener.

Of the 24 lines in the song, six of them, or one quarter, are Release
your Problems, he is reinforcing a message that only gets stronger at the
end of the song. The last five lines of the song are: I could be the warmest
soul if I like / what a night / what a night / what a night / dont lie to my face.
He is telling the listener that he also has stresses, but he released them in
this dream state, and so can the listener. After the last line, he hums and
snaps over the beat, and eventually the song fades out as soft as it came in.
The listener is now supposed to be in stress free state and can listen to the
rest of the album in the state of mind that Faker intended.

This song portrays the fragile yet strong dichotomy well because the
song in general seems so fragile, like one loud noise could ruin it. At the
same time, its relaxing message is so strong and effective. More specifically,

the beat and haunting vocals do their job of previewing the album and
showing off his talent for making a complete song. He took his time to
perfect each aspect of the song, and together they take it from simple
lounge music to a masterful melody. Release Your Problems also revels the
subtle yet beautiful spirit of the rest of the album, and does its best to hook
the listener. Therefore, it completed its job.