Moments where a song dissolves into absolute ethereal beauty

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Two that spring to mind:

The bit halfway through Teenage Fanclub's 'The Concept' where the main song draws to a close, only to be eclipsed by the most gorgeous coda of first Big-Star-but-even-better harmonies, and then soaring guitar. Magical.

Around two-and-a-half minutes through 'Extra Kings' by the Avalanches, where the music has faded, and then suddenly comes to life again with the 'ever since the day I left you' refrain and an explosion of sound that seems like the birth of Spring. An untouchable moment.

― baboon2007, Friday, 2 March 2007 17:34 (nineteen years ago)

The feedback at the end of the long version of "Drown" by Smashing Pumpkins is my favorite of this. I think even if you hate that band, that few minutes of swirling noise is really pretty.

― Ben Boyerrr, Friday, 2 March 2007 17:36 (nineteen years ago)

One of the more unexpected dissolutions has to be Beck's 'Milk And Honey'. I don't think anyone saw that coming.

Gosh, I can think of about 200 instances of this already, though, and I really don't know where to start. This sort of moment is one of my musical elixirs.

― unfished business, Friday, 2 March 2007 17:42 (nineteen years ago)

Second half of Velvet Underground's "Sister Ray". Penultimate chunk of Sonic Youth's "Total Trash".

― Pye Poudre, Friday, 2 March 2007 17:44 (nineteen years ago)

Yes do this quite a lot. 'Gates Of Delirium' alone has about 3 or 4 of these precise moments. 'And You And I' possibly does it best.

― unfished business, Friday, 2 March 2007 17:48 (nineteen years ago)

when kanye west says 'BAN LOUIS JAGGER!' at the end of golddigger

― and what, Friday, 2 March 2007 17:50 (nineteen years ago)

The feedback at the end of the long version of "Drown" by Smashing Pumpkins is my favorite of this. I think even if you hate that band, that few minutes of swirling noise is really pretty.

agreed.

i like when the fizzy white noise guitars on sonic youth's 'washing machine' kick in, after kim finishes singing. that bit always blows my mind...

― stevie, Friday, 2 March 2007 17:56 (nineteen years ago)

"Trepenated Earth" by Ariel Pink has several moments when he slips into a rapturous "woo oohuh oohuh ahhh ha ha haaa" vocal vibe, then gets all rough and rocky again...beautiful and disarming...

the last two minutes of Goldie's "Angel" are breathtaking, well worth the hardcore thump that precedes/sets it up...

and the entire song "Sweet You" is literally cloud-parting, undeniable sweetness after 40-odd minutes of squelching, robotic acid brutality...

― henry s, Friday, 2 March 2007 18:09 (nineteen years ago)

starting at the bottom of my iTunes, and working my way up,

XTC - The Wheel And The Maypole (the 'Maypole' section)
Working For A Nuclear Free City - So (the middle bit)
Wilco - I Am Trying To Break Your Heart and ESPECIALLY HANDSHAKE DRUGS and a load of others (including 'Less Than You Think')
Ultrasound - Everything Picture (it takes 17 minutes to get to this bit, but when it gets there...oh my dear lord)
Talk Talk - erm, WHERE TO FUCKING START, probably the best example is 'Wealth'
SFA - ditto, probably the best example is 'Blerwytirhwng?' for the bit just before the mental techno breakdown, maybe Run! Christian Run, maybe Cabin Fever
Suede - Daddy's Speeding, and to think they were pinned down as uptempo Britpoppers
Steve Harley - Come Up And See Me (Make Me Smile), the FUCKING MIDDLE-EIGHT, this might be the greatest pop-song OF ALL TIME
Spiritualized - SEE TALK TALK, best example = WGTH(TSII) or Shine A Light (live)
Soft Machine - Moon In June (big time)
Slowdive - When The Sun Hits
Six By Seven - England & A Broken Radio
Sigur Ros - well, it's what they TRY to do, I might as well acknowledge the buggers...
The Secret Machines - Now Here is Nowhere (alllllll theeeeeese woooooooooooooords...)
Roxy Music - For Your Pleasure (ya rly)
Ride - Dreams Burn Down (about FIVE TIMES and it's just as good EVERY TIME)
Radiohead - Karma Police (and about 30 others, this being the most blatant, although it DOES rip-off Slowdive)
Pulp - David's Last Summer (the ultimate end-of-summer song, what else can I say? Except that the ending is astonishing)
Primal Scream - Shoot Speed/Kill Light
Porcupine Tree - Fadeaway
Pink Floyd - A Saucerful Of Secrets
ORBITAL - OUT THERE SOMEWHERE PT.2 (I.E. THRED IS WON)
Opeth - Blackwater Park (really near the beginning of the song is the acoustic interlude to end all other acoustic interludes)
OTC - Hilltop Procession
Oceansize - Saturday Morning Breakfast Show (if you've heard it, you'll agree that this is one of the very finest examples on this entire list)
Oasis - D'ya Know What I Mean? (YA RLY, if you disagree you are a SNOB, and besides I hate MOST of their music)
NIN - Right Where it Belongs
My Computer - Lonely
MBV - Only Shallow, about 24 seconds in when the verse begins.
Muse - Citizen Erased (the coda is ethereal, beautiful, and utterly different to the rest of the song whilst still following it coherently! Genuinely awesome stuff, and a brilliant song! Fuck the haters!)
Mr. Bungle - The Holy Filament
Mogwai - 2 Rights Make 1 Wrong, Kids Will Be Skeletons, Stop Coming To My House, Tracy, Waltz For Aidan, ETFUCKINGCETERA
Mew - Am I Wry? No and White Lips Kissed are premier amongst their MANY bliss-outs
Mercury Rev - actually too many to choose from. Oh g'wan. Frittering OBV, erm, Boys Peel Out, Downs Are Feminine Balloons, Hercules, Lincoln's Eyes, they all have these moments.
Massive Attack - Group Four (hi dere LIZ FRASER)
Mansun - Being A Girl
M83 - Moon Child

I shall do the first half of the alphabet...later!

― unfished business, Friday, 2 March 2007 18:28 (nineteen years ago)

oh, you.

― s1ocki, Friday, 2 March 2007 18:36 (nineteen years ago)

the last five minutes or so of "love is the answer" by cerrone, obviously

there are about 10,000,000 house songs one could list

― Tracer Hand, Friday, 2 March 2007 18:39 (nineteen years ago)

The thing that came to mind when I read this is the last 20 seconds of "Cowboy" by Harry Nilsson. There's like a weird phased harpsichord that appears out of nowhere and blows me away.

― Billy Pilgrim, Friday, 2 March 2007 18:57 (nineteen years ago)

That Church song, right? "Under the Milky Way"

― Pye Poudre, Friday, 2 March 2007 18:59 (nineteen years ago)

the end of "Quantum Physics" by Can dissolves into warm, heavenly perfection. I kind of wish they'd broken up after that.

― Dominique, Friday, 2 March 2007 20:10 (nineteen years ago)

(I.E. THRED IS WON

ha.

Srsly though. "Now Here is Nowhere" OTM. "Our Prayer" is an entire tune's worth of ethereal dissolving.

― BIG HOOS aka the steendriver, Friday, 2 March 2007 21:45 (nineteen years ago)

Air - "Run"

I can't think of anything better than that.

― MaGoGo, Sunday, 4 March 2007 01:43 (nineteen years ago)

otm dominique! i think 'Quantum Physics" is sublime; probably my favorite Can track.

― nerve_pylon, Sunday, 4 March 2007 01:57 (nineteen years ago)

his name is alive 'love's a fish eye'

― keythkeyth, Sunday, 4 March 2007 02:10 (nineteen years ago)

Meat Puppets' "Plateau."

― inhibitionist, Sunday, 4 March 2007 03:21 (nineteen years ago)

kate bush "Egypt" near the end

― Surmounter, Sunday, 4 March 2007 05:52 (nineteen years ago)

The feedbacky ending to "Starlings of the Slipstream" by Pavement.

― j-rock, Monday, 5 March 2007 01:16 (nineteen years ago)

The end Of My Hi-Matic by Isolee.

― mehlt, Monday, 5 March 2007 02:03 (nineteen years ago)

my bloody valentine - sometimes (after kevin finishes singing) does it for me

― venimdenim, Monday, 5 March 2007 02:22 (nineteen years ago)

"symptom of the universe"

― Mr. Snrub, Monday, 5 March 2007 02:50 (nineteen years ago)

So obvious, nobody's mentioned it: "A Day in the Life."

― inhibitionist, Monday, 5 March 2007 04:31 (nineteen years ago)

Moya by GYBE springs to mind.

― Drooone, Monday, 5 March 2007 05:25 (nineteen years ago)

I also love in A Very Cellular Song by Incredible String Band. The "goodnight, goodnight..." breakdown. Awesomeness.

― Drooone, Monday, 5 March 2007 05:27 (nineteen years ago)

My Bloody Valentine - What You Want

― ablaeser, Monday, 5 March 2007 06:34 (nineteen years ago)

the recurring semi-off-key-sounding chord and its resolution (sorry, my modal theory is terrible) in the bill evans song "jade visions," from the second take off the village vangaurd sessions album.

― davie, Monday, 5 March 2007 07:45 (nineteen years ago)

There's a bit in Strange Day by The Cure I thought of the moment I read this thread title.

― StanM, Monday, 5 March 2007 08:04 (nineteen years ago)

Joy Division - The Eternal (Preston, Warehouse, 28 February 1980)

― StanM, Monday, 5 March 2007 08:15 (nineteen years ago)

Dead Can Dance - Host of Seraphim

― baaderonixx, Monday, 5 March 2007 15:22 (nineteen years ago)

The two that immediately spring to mind are

1 Captain Beefheart/Magic Band - "Kandy Korn": the part after the singing, where the guitars lock horns and take off for the sun (esp the version on Mirror Man, as it happens twice in that one)

2 Sonic Youth - "Express way to yr skull": i don't remember the album version right now, but a live show from Chicago 1985 that i always listen to has a great version of this. Those last four or so minutes are transcendent -- you could hear the separate instruments for awhile (that ever descending bass line, thurston banging the guitar for resonance), but then they all meld into this beautiful, peaceful drone a la stars of the lid

― city worker, Monday, 5 March 2007 15:38 (nineteen years ago)

I read this thread title like a few hours ago, and it evoked, it hinted at something I couldn't quite grasp at the moment and then I realized that it described how I felt about "Marquee Moon" right at the climax of the solo/bridge at 8:41, when they go into the 3/4 arpeggios and the delicate little seagull squawk guitar licks, and all the tension becomes release, and its just so lovely and transcendent in a fundamental, wordlessly expressive way.

The moment might be still a little too musically organized and "rock" to constitute the pure sound-bliss that "absolute ethereal beauty" connotes, but hey, what're you gonna do. At least for songs working within the conventions and constraints of the traditional rock setup, I can think of none better.

― yoshinorimike, Monday, 5 March 2007 22:12 (nineteen years ago)

There's a bit in Strange Day by The Cure I thought of the moment I read this thread title.

OTMFM, that was going to be in my A-L list!

― unfished business, Monday, 5 March 2007 22:16 (nineteen years ago)

i thought this thread was going to be an ode to "i'm not in love" by 10cc -- that's my vote, anyway.

big boys don't cry!

― Mike McGooney-gal, Monday, 5 March 2007 23:26 (nineteen years ago)

good thread btw!

― Surmounter, Tuesday, 6 March 2007 00:13 (nineteen years ago)

Shocking that anyone's answer would be from the 4AD catalogue, huh...

Well, there is this one moment on the first Lush EP... I think it's during "Thoughtforms", I can't be arsed to put teh vinyl on just at the moment and the Apple store clips do not contain this particular moment.

But that's my pick.

Sonic Youth - "Express way to yr skull"

I can certainly see that one's notion of ethereal beauty can vary quite a bit!

― Saxby D. Elder, Tuesday, 6 March 2007 02:10 (nineteen years ago)

The organic white noise between "i. The Sun" & "ii. The Solar System" on The Microphones' Mount Eerie album.

― ryborg3k, Tuesday, 6 March 2007 02:18 (nineteen years ago)

The Smiths, "That Joke Isn't Funny Anymore," when the guitar feedback comes in right before the "I've seen this happen..." bit (and that bit as well!!!)

― Curt1s Stephens, Tuesday, 6 March 2007 02:23 (nineteen years ago)

about half way through Skygreen Leopards' "Minotaur (burn a candle for love)" the etherealometer is way up there.

― Drooone, Tuesday, 6 March 2007 02:31 (nineteen years ago)

...and the "i long for a clear blue sky" shoutouts in spiritual inmate by Wooden Wand.

― Drooone, Tuesday, 6 March 2007 02:33 (nineteen years ago)

the end of the green typewriters suite on olivia tremor control's dusk at cubist castle...will begins to sing "when you're ready to come back down..."

― venimdenim, Tuesday, 6 March 2007 02:33 (nineteen years ago)

The organic white noise between "i. The Sun" & "ii. The Solar System" on The Microphones' Mount Eerie album.

yep. I love how the white noise gradually turns into the sound of a waterfall. Or at least, it sounds like that to me.

― Z S, Tuesday, 6 March 2007 03:17 (nineteen years ago)

The Sprawl by Sonic Youth on Daydream Nation.

― William Selman, Tuesday, 6 March 2007 03:34 (nineteen years ago)

The Sprawl by Sonic Youth on Daydream Nation

This reaches my sense of ethereal beauty more than an '85 vers. of expressway to yr skull at least.

― Saxby D. Elder, Tuesday, 6 March 2007 04:04 (nineteen years ago)

Captain Beefheart/Magic Band - "Kandy Korn": the part after the singing, where the guitars lock horns and take off for the sun (esp the version on Mirror Man, as it happens twice in that one)

Yes!

― inhibitionist, Tuesday, 6 March 2007 04:06 (nineteen years ago)

Agreed, Kandy Korn does rule.

― Drooone, Tuesday, 6 March 2007 04:21 (nineteen years ago)

The last minute of Incredible String Band's "Koeeoaddi There."

― clotpoll, Tuesday, 6 March 2007 05:57 (nineteen years ago)

the last 2 minutes or so of felix da housecat's version of royksopp's "what does it feel like". wow

― tremendoid, Tuesday, 6 March 2007 07:48 (nineteen years ago)

The coda on Smashing Pumpkins' "Hummer". Pure unadulterated bliss.

and "The Gates of Delirium" does it for me as well... <3

― JP Almeida, Tuesday, 6 March 2007 09:27 (nineteen years ago)

The best example I know of is the last minute or two of Slowdive's "Catch the Breeze"

That's pretty much the definition of dissolving into absolute ethereal beauty, for me.

― Z S, Tuesday, 6 March 2007 23:47 (nineteen years ago)

Ooooh, I have a few.

1. Broadcast, "This World Backwords" - the middle eight where all instruments drop out except the keyboard, like the sun peeking out of a cloudy sky. Pure aural bliss.

2. Red House Painters, "Mother" - Towards the end when one of the guitars starts making
seagullish noises.

3. Epic Soundtracks, "Sweet Sixteen" - when the "oooh-WHOO-ooohs" creep up your ears like shivers, all the way to when Epic sings "don't ever wake up."

― AdamO, Wednesday, 7 March 2007 02:53 (nineteen years ago)

Piano arpeggios do this for me. The bridge on "Paris 1919" is the canonical example, but two that really hit me hard:

These Immortal Souls - "Marry Me, Lie! Lie!"
Nina Nastasia - "Treehouse Song"

― bendy, Wednesday, 7 March 2007 06:32 (nineteen years ago)

"dissolve into [some other kind of beauty]": too many examples to pick.

but ethereal beauty? aye, i'll go with "catch the breeze". for now.

― grimly fiendish, Wednesday, 7 March 2007 10:43 (nineteen years ago)

six years pass...

starting at the bottom of my iTunes, and working my way up,
XTC - The Wheel And The Maypole (the 'Maypole' section)
Working For A Nuclear Free City - So (the middle bit)
Wilco - I Am Trying To Break Your Heart and ESPECIALLY HANDSHAKE DRUGS and a load of others (including 'Less Than You Think')
Ultrasound - Everything Picture (it takes 17 minutes to get to this bit, but when it gets there...oh my dear lord)
Talk Talk - erm, WHERE TO FUCKING START, probably the best example is 'Wealth'
SFA - ditto, probably the best example is 'Blerwytirhwng?' for the bit just before the mental techno breakdown, maybe Run! Christian Run, maybe Cabin Fever
Suede - Daddy's Speeding, and to think they were pinned down as uptempo Britpoppers
Steve Harley - Come Up And See Me (Make Me Smile), the FUCKING MIDDLE-EIGHT, this might be the greatest pop-song OF ALL TIME
Spiritualized - SEE TALK TALK, best example = WGTH(TSII) or Shine A Light (live)
Soft Machine - Moon In June (big time)
Slowdive - When The Sun Hits
Six By Seven - England & A Broken Radio
Sigur Ros - well, it's what they TRY to do, I might as well acknowledge the buggers...
The Secret Machines - Now Here is Nowhere (alllllll theeeeeese woooooooooooooords...)
Roxy Music - For Your Pleasure (ya rly)
Ride - Dreams Burn Down (about FIVE TIMES and it's just as good EVERY TIME)
Radiohead - Karma Police (and about 30 others, this being the most blatant, although it DOES rip-off Slowdive)
Pulp - David's Last Summer (the ultimate end-of-summer song, what else can I say? Except that the ending is astonishing)
Primal Scream - Shoot Speed/Kill Light
Porcupine Tree - Fadeaway
Pink Floyd - A Saucerful Of Secrets
ORBITAL - OUT THERE SOMEWHERE PT.2 (I.E. THRED IS WON)
Opeth - Blackwater Park (really near the beginning of the song is the acoustic interlude to end all other acoustic interludes)
OTC - Hilltop Procession
Oceansize - Saturday Morning Breakfast Show (if you've heard it, you'll agree that this is one of the very finest examples on this entire list)
Oasis - D'ya Know What I Mean? (YA RLY, if you disagree you are a SNOB, and besides I hate MOST of their music)
NIN - Right Where it Belongs
My Computer - Lonely
MBV - Only Shallow, about 24 seconds in when the verse begins.
Muse - Citizen Erased (the coda is ethereal, beautiful, and utterly different to the rest of the song whilst still following it coherently! Genuinely awesome stuff, and a brilliant song! Fuck the haters!)
Mr. Bungle - The Holy Filament
Mogwai - 2 Rights Make 1 Wrong, Kids Will Be Skeletons, Stop Coming To My House, Tracy, Waltz For Aidan, ETFUCKINGCETERA
Mew - Am I Wry? No and White Lips Kissed are premier amongst their MANY bliss-outs
Mercury Rev - actually too many to choose from. Oh g'wan. Frittering OBV, erm, Boys Peel Out, Downs Are Feminine Balloons, Hercules, Lincoln's Eyes, they all have these moments.
Massive Attack - Group Four (hi dere LIZ FRASER)
Mansun - Being A Girl
M83 - Moon Child
I shall do the first half of the alphabet...later!
― unfished business, Friday, March 2, 2007 1:28 PM (6 years ago)

r u still working on this

― Remember! The cormorant is a big brrd. It has got a long neck. (unregistered), Thursday, 10 October 2013 01:38 (twelve years ago)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jplKKy18rvE

― Josh in Chicago, Thursday, 10 October 2013 01:44 (twelve years ago)

Cortney Tidwell - Don't Let Stars Keep Us Tangled Up (album version)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hl4zMRmMXFU

(the last 3 minutes, when Cortney's wordless crooning is slowly drowned out by the sound of a spaceship burning up in an alien atmosphere. Ewan Pearson's remix truncates the breakdown and moves it to the middle of the song, which seriously weakens its impact)

― Remember! The cormorant is a big brrd. It has got a long neck. (unregistered), Thursday, 10 October 2013 01:48 (twelve years ago)

Second half of Katy Song, obv

― Master of Treacle, Thursday, 10 October 2013 01:55 (twelve years ago)

good call on the Bows song, xxpost. I'd also throw in Long Fin Killie's "Lipstick" (the original EP version with the droney violin outro).

― Remember! The cormorant is a big brrd. It has got a long neck. (unregistered), Thursday, 10 October 2013 01:55 (twelve years ago)

I was just listening to Second Toughest in the Infants, about 12 minutes into Juanita/Kiteless/To Dream of Love gives me that kind of feeling.

Have been listening to Ocean Rain a lot recently and I'm not sure if I'd describe it as ethereal beauty but 1.34 into The Yo Yo Man has been blowing me away. I've owned the album for years but I don't think I've realised how great that moment is until very recently.

http://youtu.be/Pn-meo_-o5k

― Kitchen Person, Thursday, 10 October 2013 01:58 (twelve years ago)

I think my all time favourite moment like this is the last minute of Nocturne Seven by Billy Mackenzie. His vocals are just heavenly.

http://youtu.be/TLJVb23K9eI

― Kitchen Person, Thursday, 10 October 2013 02:01 (twelve years ago)

First thing I thought of when I saw this thread was "Imperial" by Unrest.

― Mr. Snrub, Thursday, 10 October 2013 02:24 (twelve years ago)

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