LYDIAN-FLAVOURED CHORDS

Another regular facet of Bradfield’s chord language is the use of Lydian flavours. This happens when the fifth chord of a major scale is played over the root of the scale’s fourth chord. So – as in the line before the chorus of Motorcycle emptiness (“Sorrow, sorrow, sorrow ”)– if we’re in E major and moving between the fourth chord (A) and the fifth (B), play the B with an A root for an almost mystical chord change. The heart of this harmony lays in the ‘raised fourth’ relationship between the A note and the D# in the B chord – a key flavour of the Lydian mode, the fourth mode of the major scale. This sound’s also in the chorus of new songs Complicated illusions( another B over an A bass) and Don’ t let the night divide us( aD chord over C bass ). “The first time I discovered that sound,” says Bradfield, “was in Andy Williams’ Can’ t take my eyes off you, and it’s a big ABBA thing, too. It’s a bittersweet tension...”