Recently, I’ve been trying to see connections between the past and present and with different artistic genres. But I was quite surprised when I found Monody (featuring Laura Brehm) by German electronic musician, TheFatRat (Christian Friedrich Johannes Büttner).

According to the Encyclopaedia Britannica, monody is a music style “of accompanied solo song consisting of a vocal line, which is frequently embellished, and simple, often expressive, harmonies.” Monody arouse at the beginning of the 17th century, the start of the Baroque Era, until about the middle of the 17th century.

Here’s TheFatRat’s modern interpretation of monody, composed in the Glitch Hop electronic style:

This blog focuses on poetry, so the reason I posted it was because I liked the lyrics and how well they could work as poetry, with a few edits of course.

Summer in the hills

Those hazy days I do remember

We were running still

Had the whole world at our feet

Watching seasons change

Our roads were lined with adventure

Mountains in the way

Couldn’t keep us from the sea

Here we stand open arms

This is home where we are

Ever strong in the world that we made

I still hear you in the breeze

See your shadows in the trees

Holding on, memories never change

Source: LyricFind
Songwriters: Christian Buettner / John Dang / Rajan Singh Khanijaon
Monody lyrics © Kobalt Music Publishing Ltd., BMG Rights Management

The lyrics barely contain rhymes, unlike most lyrics. And the words that do rhyme evoke different senses, such as, “I still hear you in the breeze / See your shadows in the trees.”

The descriptions and connections with nature, the relation between the “speaker” and whoever they’re addressing, and memory, reminds me of Romantic poetry too. In fact, these lyrics make me think that they are a modern interpretation of Romanticism.

What stands out most to me is the connection between early Baroque music and this song, but also between this song and poetry. These lyrics do not appear too cliched when read despite their apparent connection with Romanticism. However, the overall work, the music along with its lyrics, appears far from cliched for both electronic music and poetry.