The Brilliance of "Hope Leaves" (Opeth) | Barracuda Breakdowns Ep. 33

[00:00:00]All right, we're gonna dive into some OPTH. Here's Hope Leaves. This is off the Damnation album. And yeah, Stephen Wilson produced this. Steven Wilson from Porcupine Tree. And I just read that male Aerfeld, the frontman of Opeth, his grandmother died during the recording of Deliverance and Damnation. So, he dedicated both of these albums to her.

[00:00:21]And I bring that up because there's so much sadness in this song and it's called Hope Leaves, right? Um, so let let's get into it. There's a lot to say about it. I mean, there's pretty much like three sections and they're all just so beautiful and that's like why I chose to to break this one down. So, it's on capo 2, right? So, I'm just going to label everything like E minor, A minor.

[00:00:45]This song is in A minor. It's actually in B minor because of capo 2, but just going to call it A minor to keep things simple. and the riff, the sound of it.

[00:00:54]Look, [music] [music] now it kind of has like a radioey kind of effect to it. And I'm getting this sound, which is similar to the original, by a little bit of reverb, but I'm doing a highp pass and a low pass filter. So, the highp pass kills the lows so that the high frequencies pass up, right? And then a low pass kills the highs so that the low frequencies shine more. So I'm doing both of them. And then when you do both of them, it kind of if you really accentuate it, it sounds like a telephone kind of effect. So I'm like moderately accentuating it. Nothing too crazy. Killing lows, killing highs, letting the mids cut through. And that's how you get that kind of radio effect. I also have a Sandamp plugin which uh kind of like a little bit of saturation, a little bit of distortion.

[00:01:46][music] Such a gorgeous riff.

[00:01:50]This is uh section one, right? Call it section A or section one. Now, the way I'm playing it is 5x 55 0. Okay, [music] that's like the main pattern.

[00:02:04]And then the bass goes and then everything else repeats and and then [music] now what's going on if we were to just simplify it. We're doing a minor but it's like a minor 7. It's actually a minor 9 because it has the which is the major 9th or the major second. The major 9th is just an octave up. [music] Right? Right. So it's like an A minor 7 chord with the added nine. So it becomes a minor 9. And then so that that's very important. That's like the other chord here. It's essentially just A minor to F which has the G as the gap. Like it like bridges the G kind of bridges both chords. So it's like a [music] G E [singing] F G A [music] F. So it's pretty much a minor to F, right? The G and the and the quick E are just acting as like a bridge. And anytime you go from A minor to the six, which is F, [music] it just sounds like deep and dark. I talk about this chord all the time. And so many of my favorite songs, so many of your favorite songs have the six in it. It's a very I I always describe it as deep, dark. It's very emotional, right? Look how different it sounds if you just do A minor to G. [music] [music] It's very different than that's the six chord. Okay. In the key of A minor, the six chord F. Okay. Now, this song, section one, really relies on this chord progression and male's vocal melody in the corner [music] window.

[00:03:57]He's just outlining the key of a minor.

[00:03:59]Um, but it's just so beautiful, right?

[00:04:02]>> [music] >> In the corner beside my window [music] hangs a lonely [singing] falling [music] grave.

[00:04:16]There is [singing] no reason I never notice [music] a [singing] memory that could hold me back. [music] Now watch here. Here comes section B. Okay. section two. He does like this is Oath right here. Okay.

[00:04:38]Oh, [music] like that is OPath. And that's what he does. Like apparently I've heard comments in my Harvest video that Male doesn't like know a lot about like formal music theory, like education.

[00:04:52]He's not formally educated on music theory rather. And he just kind of explores things with with his fingers and his chords, right? And uh I could see that. I mean, like this chord is insane.

[00:05:04][music] Like those chords are insane.

[00:05:06]But what you have to know is that in the key of A minor, he's playing F sharp, which is the major 6. It doesn't belong in the key of A minor. But not only that, he makes it a crazy chord. It's like F sharp, right? Sus suspended with a flat five. [music] The flat 5 is like kind of devilish. It has a trionee in it, right?

[00:05:27][music] Like look at that.

[00:05:31]And then we go down to F, which is the six, right? But he does like crazy chord. [music] It's like F [singing] major 7 with a flat 5 or a sharp 11. They're like the same thing essentially. [music] Th This is like the most OED section.

[00:05:50]Pretty much every OPED song has stuff like this. Just like outlandish dissonant chords, but it's right after that beautiful A section, right? So one more time. It's like [music] memory that could [singing] hold me back.

[00:06:05]And then [music] there is a wound that's always bleeding.

[00:06:10]There is a [singing] road I'm always walking.

[00:06:14]And I know. Okay. So, I love that he's saying there is a wound that's always bleeding. Like, there is a road I'm always walking. It's like it's very tense in this moment. I mean, [music] like it's like falling down.

[00:06:29]It's like devilish raindrops, right?

[00:06:31]There is [music] a wound that's always bleeding. Oh, as he's saying bleeding, it's just like falling down. There is a [music] road I'm always walking. Okay, now we're going to break out of this tension. Right, watch. It's so beautiful. And I know [music and singing] you'll never return to this place.

[00:06:58]This [music] riff is insane. This song has always stuck with me in the Damn Nation album. I remember when I as I was listening to this album for the first time, I was like, "Yeah, this song really sticks sticks out as being so beautiful. I love the mix. Like the reverb on his voice, his vocal performance is like insane, right? It's so well delivered. And I love the tone of the electric guitar.

[00:07:19]And I love the bass, too. Like, oh, we'll talk about that." But the way he gets out of this progression, watch, [music] right? And then and then [music] so now he doesn't do the F sharp anymore. He goes FG which is like makes a lot of sense to to return to A. So just like the A section, the first section one, right? That's an [music] A minor. And then section B, the that's like revolves around like a weird F sharp chord. And then F. Now when we get out of it, we go F, G, A. And it's just like is outlining the key of A minor [music] in a very like clever like just beautiful way.

[00:08:07]Like that's just 1 2 3 4 5 7. Like that's just a A minor scale right there.

[00:08:15][music] Right.

[00:08:20]And this is the chorus and it's lyricless, right? He just he just like fades into it. You'll never return to [singing and music] this place.

[00:08:32][music] Okay, now watch this.

[00:08:38]Right here. [music] That only happens once. that transition he goes. [music] Okay. So, he's just doing the power chords F, G, and then right here. That's the flat second. He's outlining B flat.

[00:08:56]He's outlining B flat. It's like a friian move. Friian is a minor mode often used in like flamco music.

[00:09:03]It's I just love the timing.

[00:09:06][music] Oh, and then the league guitar joins in.

[00:09:14]It's like and then the bass joins. Watch. [music] And as he does that, like he goes, [singing] "Oh, man." And then the drums.

[00:09:33]Oh, it's such like a vibe. It's such like a great groove. Nice and clean groove. And this might be my favorite verse. I just love Watch this. He goes, "Oh, for days [music] without talking, [music] there is a comfort inense."

[00:09:55]Oh man, there is a comfort in sense. Oh, like it's so sad, man. This This was my favorite part growing up. So used [music] to lo here. whole ambition.

[00:10:12]Like the way he says it, it sounds like he says hall, but he's he's saying so used to losing all ambition, but he's like amition.

[00:10:21]Beautiful words. It just like sounds really nice with the melody and his voice and the mix. Like the reverb on is great. [music] [singing] And then back to the troubling chord, super tense B section. There is [music] a world that's always bleeding.

[00:10:42]There [singing] is a road I'm always [music] walking.

[00:10:46]And I know [singing] you'll never return to this place. [music] [music] This is like one of my all-time favorite OP Oath riffs. And he doesn't do the [music] he doesn't do that, right? He goes and then it falls into [music] that's so nice. That's like open 225 and then we do like the flat five or the sharp 11, whatever you want to call it, like raised fourth or [music] flattened fifth.

[00:11:24]Really like oath, right? Look at this.

[00:11:27]This is [music] OPath. Just dissonance.

[00:11:29]Beautiful dissonance. And then [music] love that. I think he does that. He goes [music] that's like 2 two on the D and G and then two open open starting on the A and then that's the six chord, right? It like catches you [music] up to the G [music] like beautiful movement like we're so like we're like a A. So we're like [singing] leading to the F the six and then the seven chord [music] and here's the five chord but like first inversion like the third is on the bottom.

[00:12:10]Look at that.

[00:12:12]And beautiful.

[00:12:17]And I [music and singing] love this. I love [music] he lets all those notes ring and I I think they like t slowly turn like that amp feedback. It's kind of feedback. It's like ringing notes. It's so beautiful. It's like a thick condensed cloud. It's like, [music] oh, listen to that momentum.

[00:12:41]Like the the the tom fill the the moment going into this final verse is beautiful.

[00:12:49]>> [music] >> I always thought he said once I'm done, but he says once undone.

[00:12:56]Once I'm done, [music] there's only [singing] smoke.

[00:13:04]burning in my [music and singing] eyes to blame to cover up [music] what really happened right here. Force [music] the darkness [singing] onto me right here. There [music] is a wound that's always bleeding.

[00:13:27]is a road [singing] I'm always [music] walking and I know you'll never return [singing and music] to this place. It's like the gates are opening.

[00:13:42][music] [music] [music] It's like such a gorgeous song. So, just to recap, there's essentially three sections. The first section is right right [music] pretty much A minor to F. Again, I'm on capo 2, so it's actually B minor to G, but A minor to F, the minor one to the seven. And then the next section, we got this crazy F sharp chord. [music] It's just the it's just F# OT is what it is. and then [music] and then [music] F G. But it's like an interesting chord, right? It's like with the add nine suspended nine, I guess, suspended two [music] and then the C section, the third section is that [music] like it's so beautiful. It didn't need vocals over it, right? Just play serene. [music and singing] Oh, it's so gorgeous. Hope you enjoyed that, guys. I'm always happy to break down some OPTH. If you'd like some free ear training, check out my audio practice guide. That's at learn.danberrycuda.com/practice.

[00:15:07]And if you're interested in working with me on a production level to bring your songs to life and work with me to really craft out your sound, check out learn.danberry.com/ownyour sound. really appreciate you tuning in to Barracuda Breakdowns and I'll see you in the next episode.

[00:15:22][music]