Videos by Lori Burns
Presentation for the Progect Conference 2021: International Network for the Study of Progressive ... more Presentation for the Progect Conference 2021: International Network for the Study of Progressive Rock.
Analysis of musical genre and storytelling in Hand. Cannot. Erase. 6 views
Presentation for the Society for Music Theory, Virtual Conference 2020
Analysis of Jinjer's "P... more Presentation for the Society for Music Theory, Virtual Conference 2020
Analysis of Jinjer's "Pit of Consciousness"
Multimodal analysis of words, music, and images in extreme metal music. 117 views
Plenary Session. Ann Arbor Symposium IV: Teaching and Learning Popular Music, University of Michi... more Plenary Session. Ann Arbor Symposium IV: Teaching and Learning Popular Music, University of Michigan, November 19, 2015.
Analysis of genre and musical expression in music videos. 175 views
Keynote Address for the South Central Society for Music Theory, Virtual Conference, February 2021... more Keynote Address for the South Central Society for Music Theory, Virtual Conference, February 2021.
Recording of virtual presentation.
Analysis of After Forever, "Discord"; Nightwish, "Yours Is An Empty Hope"; and ReVamp, "Anatomy of a Nervous Breakdown: Neuresthenia".
Analytic model for cotextuality, sonic expression, and subjectivity in duets. 20 views
Keynote Address at the International Association of Popular Music Studies - UK and Ireland. Virtu... more Keynote Address at the International Association of Popular Music Studies - UK and Ireland. Virtual conference, June 2, 2021.
Analysis of Beauty & the Beast metal vocals in Floor Jansen's work: After Forever, "Tortuous Threnody" and "Discord": ReVamp "Wild Card". 7 views
Conference Keynotes by Lori Burns
Keynote Address, South Central Society for Music Theory, February , 2021
IASPM UK & Ireland London Calling Conference, 2020
Plenary Session, Ann Arbor Symposium IV, Teaching and Learning Popular Music. University of Michigan, School of Music, Theatre & Dance, 2015
Music videos promote popular artists in cultural forms that circulate widely across social med... more Music videos promote popular artists in cultural forms that circulate widely across social media networks, serving as a fertile platform for the debate of issues and themes in popular culture. Music videos tell stories through dynamic interrelationships of music, words, and images that are grounded in specific genre discourses. This paper presents and illustrates a method for analyzing the discursive construction of social and cultural meanings in popular music videos, with the aim of studying how videos rely on the workings of genre, discourse and narrative in order to be both intelligible and meaningful.
The interpretive framework grows out of three theoretical perspectives—genre theory, critical discourse theory and narrative theory—each of which is concerned with “ways of doing things.” Genre theorists explore the ways in which social groups express cultural norms and values, create shared realities and shape understandings of the world. Critical discourse analysts aim to lay bare the discursive determinants that drive texts and, in doing so, examine how texts do the persuasive work that they do. Narrative theorists are concerned with how stories are told, what stories are told, and who is doing the telling. The proposed framework facilitates systematic thinking about how the individual domains of music, word and image work together—in mutually reinforcing ways—to be culturally productive and constitutive of the social realm.
To illustrate the interpretive framework, I draw upon musical materials from two contrasting videos: Jay-Z, “Holy Grail,” 2013 (Hip-Hop) and Steven Wilson, “Drive Home,” 2013 (progressive rock).
Keynote Address, The Art of Record Production Conference, Laval University, 2013
Keynote Address, Don Wright Faculty of Music Graduate Symposium, Western University, 2007
Refereed Publications by Lori Burns
Analyzing Recorded Music: Collected Perspectives on Popular Music Tracks, 2022
The introduction of female vocalist Anneke van Giersbergen on The Gathering’s third album, Mandyl... more The introduction of female vocalist Anneke van Giersbergen on The Gathering’s third album, Mandylion (1995), is marked as an innovative moment in the history of doom metal. This chapter explores how the opening track—“Strange Machines”—is structured and sonically shaped. I examine how the vocal and instrumental layers are balanced to occupy specific registral positions in the full sonic spectrum and how they are staged within the stereo field. Using sonic visualization tools (spectrograms) from iZotope RX 7, I illustrate my analyses in a dynamic engagement with both formal and sonic attributes. My aim is to demonstrate how sonic elements—timbre and space—intersect with the formal features of the song—form, temporal elements, and pitch materials. My analysis explores an emergent dialogue between sonic attributes and musical structure, bringing forward moments where sonic space and timbre are paramount to the crystallization of musical structure and expression. I map these sonic attributes to illuminate Van Giersbergen’s powerful expressive role in the genre of doom metal.
American Music Perspectives 1/2 (2020), 2022
This article illustrates a framework for intersectional music analysis that is based on four doma... more This article illustrates a framework for intersectional music analysis that is based on four domains of oppression understood by Patricia Hill Collins as the matrix of domination. Arising from black feminist thought, intersectionality responds to intersecting oppressions imposed upon individuals. An intersectional perspective illuminates multiple layers of identity by attending to issues of race, gender, sexu- ality, class, ability, and other factors. By transferring Collins’s matrix of domination to cultural contexts, we can understand how intersection- ality applies to the cultural forms that arise. We might offer a critique of the music industry and its gatekeeping practices, and yet to under- stand the significance of systematic forces of oppression we must also look to musical genre discourse for its workings of social oppression and cultural distinction. To illustrate, I analyze a recording by Oceans of Slumber, a Texan progressive metal band that is fronted by black female vocalist, Cammie Gilbert.
Metal Music Studies, 2021
This paper examines how Pain of Salvation’s album The Perfect Element: Part I (2000) develops nar... more This paper examines how Pain of Salvation’s album The Perfect Element: Part I (2000) develops narrative subjectivity through a range of compositional and performative parameters. We reveal a myriad of ways in which the music contributes to the expression of human subjectivity and offers significant moments of interpretive clarity. Attending to the expressive aspects of music, we focus in particular on how the song structures are articulated through the following elements: formal, harmonic, temporal, thematic, and textural/timbral content. Contextualizing the concept album narrative within the genres of progressive rock and heavy metal and offering a framework for analysis derived from narrative theory, we interpret how the musical parameters convey the song lyrics and overall album concept. Pain of Salvation’s narrative of human trauma emerges through musical structures that are channeled to shape storyworld and subjectivity. Presenting analytic snapshots of the twelve album tracks, our aim is to create a sense of analytic ‘immersion’, whereby the reader engages actively with the multifaceted expressive content of words and music.
Beyoncé in the World: Making Meaning with Queen Bey in Troubled Times, Edited by Christina Baade and Kristen McGee, 2021
Popular Musicology and Identity: Essays in Honour of Stan Hawkins. Edited by Kai Arne Hansen, Freya Jarmen, and Eirik Askeroi, Routledge Press, 2020
The Bloomsbury Handbook of Rock Music Research. Edited by Allan F. Moore and Paul Carr. Bloomsbury Press, 2020
As an artistic form that circulates widely, rock music shapes and reflects social and cultural va... more As an artistic form that circulates widely, rock music shapes and reflects social and cultural values, communicating powerful stories about the ever-shifting dynamics of human agency in society. 1 Douglas Kellner writes that "Radio, television, film and the other products of media culture provide materials out of which we forge our very identities; our sense of selfhood; our notion of what it means to be male or female; our sense of class, of ethnicity and race, of nationality, of sexuality; and of 'us' and 'them. '" 2 In the context of popular musical expression, artists adopt strategies for the representation of gendered and sexualized identities that are bound up with the social values, workings of power, and norms of the musical genres in which they operate. Our cultural understanding of these representations are grounded in an appreciation of the specific genre contexts, production and industry factors, as well as aesthetic, performative, and formal features. As social constructs, the identity categories of gender and sexuality are shaped and reshaped by cultural, political, and economic forces that vary over time and across social spaces. This chapter explores a number of analytic approaches to gender and sexuality in scholarly writings about rock music, with the aim of offering a critical review of the primary concepts raised in the interpretation of gendered subjectivities and representations in popular music. The field of inquiry emerged in the 1980s with the pioneering work of scholars such as Barbara Bradby and Brian Torode, whose analysis of vocal expression led to understanding artist subjectivity as residing in the musical materials, and E. Ann Kaplan, whose work on music videos offered tools for the interpretation of visual representations and narratives. 3 During the 1990s, the field burgeoned when authors opened up a range of reflections upon gendered identities and social practices in a variety of popular music genres, upon analytic methods for musical texts, as well as upon theories of reception and postmodern criticism. 4 From the field of gender studies, the seminal writings of authors such as Judith Butler and Judith Halberstam positioned gender performativity as a negotiation of gender categories. 5 The new millennium saw this line of inquiry firmly established with writings dedicated to the subject of popular music and identity, bringing forward the manifold ways in which individual artists navigate the politics of identity in 28
The Bloomsbury Handbook of Music Production. Edited by Simon Zagorski-Thomas and Andrew Bourbon. Bloomsbury Press, 2020
Transmedia Directors: Artistry, Industry, and New Audiovisual Aesthetics. Edited by Carol Vernallis, Holly Rogers, and Lisa Perrott. Bloomsbury Press, 2020
The Bloomsbury Handbook of Popular Music Analysis. Edited by Lori Burns and Stan Hawkins., 2019
This chapter examines the dynamic integration of words, music, and images in the extreme metal pe... more This chapter examines the dynamic integration of words, music, and images in the extreme metal performance video of Dark Tranquillity's "Uniformity, " directed by Patric Ullaeus. 1 Originating from Gothenburg, Sweden, Dark Tranquillity have been active since 1989 and are known as forerunners in the extreme metal subgenre known as melodic death metal. 2 The song under examination is the third track from their tenth album, Construct (Century Media, 2013), an album characterized by heavy riffs, melodic guitar work, atmospheric keyboard, and both clean and harsh vocals. Construct was received as a change in direction as the band shifted focus from an abrasive toward a more atmospheric sonic palette. 3 "Uniformity, " a moody, mid-tempo song with a lyrical focus on the forces of societal oppression, stands out on the album as an anthemic moment due to the dynamic contrasts, unusual formal structure, and slower tempo. It is considerably slower than the other tracks on Construct, and it is even a slow offering in the context of the band's larger work list. Given the unique styling of this song, it is interesting that Dark Tranquillity selected it as a promotional single and video for the album. With its release, the band introduced the video as follows: After the introspective "For broken words" and the up-tempo riffing of "The science of noise, " it's time to showcase the more anthemic aspects of the new album with the song "Uniformity. " In contrast to the more experimental promo videos we made last year, we wanted the "Uniformity" clip to be an intimate and genuine performance video. Nothing but the music itself and the band members playing in the rehearsal room. For this, we hired renowned director Patric Ullaeus, and we're very happy to share the result with you. Stand up and be counted! 4 Also from Gothenburg, Patric Ullaeus's heavy metal music videos are characterized by a dark yet energetic quality that renders a powerful portrayal of performance style 9781501342332_txt_rev.indd 183 23-07-2019 19:31:25 Multimodal expression: Theoretical and analytic perspectives To begin, let's consider a basic definition of multimodality and a summary of the analytic approaches applied in this field of inquiry. 5 In the domain of media narratology, Marie-Laure Ryan and Jan-Noël Thon understand multimodality as the integration of signs from different expressive modes (e.g., moving images, spoken language, and music) within the same media text. 6 Taking this as a point of departure, I understand multimodality as the artistic integration of multiple expressive modes within one media artifact. For ease of reference, I will refer to these modes as "expressive channels" or "domains" and identify the pertinent channels for music video as the lyrical, musical, and visual realms, which I will summarize as word-music-image. None of the channels will be treated as the site of static representational content, but rather will be considered as dynamic, gesture-based modalities of expression. For instance, in my analysis of the lyrical realm I will consider word choice as well as narrative actions and subjectivity, the musical realm will include the contexts of genre as well as the expressive elements of musical performance, and the analysis of the visual realm will, as Sarie Mairs Slee advocates, "include both image (noun) and action (verb). " 7 Furthermore, the analysis of these individual expressive channels will
The Routledge Companion to Popular Music and Humor. Edited by Nicolas Baxter-Moore and Tom Kitts. Routledge Press, 2019
This paper examines a recent trend in the work of female artists to appropriate and parody the hi... more This paper examines a recent trend in the work of female artists to appropriate and parody the hip-hop “booty video” and, in so doing, to address specific modes of female objectification that have their origins in the work of male artists. We interpret Lily Allen’s Hard out Here (2013), Nicki Minaj’s Anaconda (2014), and Beyoncé’s 7/11 (2014) as illustrative of this trend, and we connect each of these videos through intertextual references to the work of mainstream male artists. We suggest that these artists, relying upon an established intertext, adopt strategies of humor, hyperbole, and parody in order to enter and reclaim the discourse of the booty.
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Videos by Lori Burns
Analysis of musical genre and storytelling in Hand. Cannot. Erase.
Analysis of Jinjer's "Pit of Consciousness"
Multimodal analysis of words, music, and images in extreme metal music.
Analysis of genre and musical expression in music videos.
Recording of virtual presentation.
Analysis of After Forever, "Discord"; Nightwish, "Yours Is An Empty Hope"; and ReVamp, "Anatomy of a Nervous Breakdown: Neuresthenia".
Analytic model for cotextuality, sonic expression, and subjectivity in duets.
Analysis of Beauty & the Beast metal vocals in Floor Jansen's work: After Forever, "Tortuous Threnody" and "Discord": ReVamp "Wild Card".
Conference Keynotes by Lori Burns
The interpretive framework grows out of three theoretical perspectives—genre theory, critical discourse theory and narrative theory—each of which is concerned with “ways of doing things.” Genre theorists explore the ways in which social groups express cultural norms and values, create shared realities and shape understandings of the world. Critical discourse analysts aim to lay bare the discursive determinants that drive texts and, in doing so, examine how texts do the persuasive work that they do. Narrative theorists are concerned with how stories are told, what stories are told, and who is doing the telling. The proposed framework facilitates systematic thinking about how the individual domains of music, word and image work together—in mutually reinforcing ways—to be culturally productive and constitutive of the social realm.
To illustrate the interpretive framework, I draw upon musical materials from two contrasting videos: Jay-Z, “Holy Grail,” 2013 (Hip-Hop) and Steven Wilson, “Drive Home,” 2013 (progressive rock).
Refereed Publications by Lori Burns
Analysis of musical genre and storytelling in Hand. Cannot. Erase.
Analysis of Jinjer's "Pit of Consciousness"
Multimodal analysis of words, music, and images in extreme metal music.
Analysis of genre and musical expression in music videos.
Recording of virtual presentation.
Analysis of After Forever, "Discord"; Nightwish, "Yours Is An Empty Hope"; and ReVamp, "Anatomy of a Nervous Breakdown: Neuresthenia".
Analytic model for cotextuality, sonic expression, and subjectivity in duets.
Analysis of Beauty & the Beast metal vocals in Floor Jansen's work: After Forever, "Tortuous Threnody" and "Discord": ReVamp "Wild Card".
The interpretive framework grows out of three theoretical perspectives—genre theory, critical discourse theory and narrative theory—each of which is concerned with “ways of doing things.” Genre theorists explore the ways in which social groups express cultural norms and values, create shared realities and shape understandings of the world. Critical discourse analysts aim to lay bare the discursive determinants that drive texts and, in doing so, examine how texts do the persuasive work that they do. Narrative theorists are concerned with how stories are told, what stories are told, and who is doing the telling. The proposed framework facilitates systematic thinking about how the individual domains of music, word and image work together—in mutually reinforcing ways—to be culturally productive and constitutive of the social realm.
To illustrate the interpretive framework, I draw upon musical materials from two contrasting videos: Jay-Z, “Holy Grail,” 2013 (Hip-Hop) and Steven Wilson, “Drive Home,” 2013 (progressive rock).