Hermit Crab and tension quality

Hermit Crab is the band that I’m writing for and playing in. It’s there that I’m working on addressing issues of rhythm and meter. Here’s a snippet of something that I’ve written for the band: 

You can see the relationship between what the drums are doing, and what the two guitars are doing. The drums highlight the rhythm of guitar 1 with a rimshot on the snare, and a floor tom highlights the rhythm of guitar 2. 

Notation, in this example, communicates a certain quality of tension. Imagine in your minds ear, the absence of quarter note triplets in the drums. Or the absence of the same in guitar 2. Rhythmic agreement between instruments disappears, and rhythmic tension changes.

But how?

Tension quality

It changes in terms of quality. Presence and/or absence of identical rhythms in different instruments changes the timbral signature of the that rhythm. Any rhythm can be given a timbral signature, and the mutation of that signature by the addition or removal of instruments changes the quality of the tension produced by that rhythm.

Dynamics are also effective in altering tension quality. Rhythms that create different tempos – the guitars in this example – can be given a different tension profile using varying dynamics.

Dynamics are also effective in altering tension quality. Rhythms that create different tempos – the guitars in this example – can be given a different tension profile using varying dynamics. The following example uses fairly extreme contrast in order to make the point. It can be a lot more subtle. It can also be a lot more complex.