Micro Cuts (song)
| Muse song | |
|---|---|
| Name | Micro Cuts |
| Album/single |
|
| Length | 3:38. 3:39 (XX Anniversary RemiXX) |
| Alternative titles | Bass Trem |
| First live performance | 1st August 2000 (outro riff) 19th October 2000 (full) |
| Latest live performance | 2nd July 2016 (full) 3rd December 2018 (outro riff) |
| Recorded | Real World Studio Wiltshire, 2001 |
| Writer/composer | Matthew Bellamy |
| Producer | John Leckie |
| Song Nav | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Citizen Erased | < | Micro Cuts | > | Screenager |
| Album Nav | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Showbiz (1999) | < | Origin of Symmetry (2001) | > | Hullabaloo (2002) |
Description
A blend of baroque melody, high pitched vocals and metal. Matthew Bellamy uses falsetto vocals peaking at G5 during the chorus and Ab5 in descending vocals towards the end.
Matt said that the song was inspired by a dream he had in which he was in a desert and there were giant blades swinging from the sky, matt said: "I was having these strange hallucinations of this triangular blade, really silver metallic, razor sharp. I was in this landscape, arid, grey, dead with an endless horizon and I was trying to dodge these blades that were flying about everywhere. They'd go into my head and I could feel them cutting into my brain... Then I went to the doctor and he told me to drink more water and that was that." [1]
"Micro Cuts" has been speculated to have been inspired by Prelude N°3 in D minor (BWV999) by Johann-Sebastian Bach.
When asked about the meaning of the song, Matt stated; "This stems from hallucinations I had of triangular blades cutting into the back of my head. It's a feeling that information is being infiltrated into your brain. I'd seen a TV programme about psychological warfare and how the government could be controlling us using a type of radiation, sending pulses to our brains. So micro cuts are cuts into your being that you can't see or avoid"[2]
Composition
Micro Cuts is a metal song, with elements of baroque music. It's written in D minor, and moves at a very fast tempo of 160 bpm. The time signature frequently shifts between 4/4 and 6/4.
Bellamy's vocal range spans from D4 to A♭5, and shares his second highest recorded note with Showbiz and Survival. Similar to Supermassive Black Hole, Bellamy never uses the modal register, even on lower notes where falsetto is difficult to maintain. His tone is very different in both songs, defying the common belief that the falsetto register is limited in tonal variation.
Micro Cuts (XX Anniversary RemiXX)
On May 19th, 2021, it was announced that Muse will be releasing a remixed and remastered version of Origin of Symmetry, titled "Origin of Symmetry (XX Anniversary RemiXX)". This was released on June 18th, 2021.
The most notable change from the original is the addition of a Harpsichord during the intro and verses. Matt revealed that this was originally recorded for the song to give it a more classical/baroque sound, but for reasons he could not recall they muted it in the original mix. Another notable change is the presence of additional backing falsetto vocals by Matt during the intro, second verse and outro. Aside from the usual touch ups to the drums, guitar and bass, the only other notable difference is that the guitar solo during the outro (from 3:17-3:23) no longer pans from left to right.[3]
Originally, the first bar of the song was cut off meaning the song would actually start on the second bar. This was seemingly done by mistake as it was later corrected on streaming services such as Spotify, with the first bar being added back in. However any physical copies of the album, vinyls or original downloads will be stuck with the unaltered version.
Live
Live favourite on the 2001 and 2002 tours. It was performed at just two known gigs in 2000, where it was only known as "New 2" or "the heavy song" by fans. The first time Micro Cuts was played live in 2001, it featured different lyrics in place of "Micro waves me insane, A blade cuts in your brain" and the chorus. Early live versions featured an extended outro that featured parts of the song "Execution Commentary", as well as extra lyrics.
The descending vocals towards the end of the song have been played intermittently through time. During early 2001 it wasn't sung at all, and post 2002 it wasn't usually sung, although one example of the descending vocals post-2002 was at The Mercy Lounge in 2004. In the latter half of the 2005 tour, the post-final-chorus section was used as an outro to "Stockholm Syndrome" on at least two occasions.
"Micro Cuts" made a return to set lists during the 2007 European tour. The first performance of 2007 featured a largely clean guitar (without effects), while further performances feature a "new effect", which mimics the layering on the album recording. The descending vocals have not returned, while vocals have been clean so far. After the final chorus and before the final decent, Bellamy has used the Kaoss pad to create a sound similar to the Kaoss pad solo and outro used with live "Supermassive Black Hole" performances.
Played occasionally during the Absolution and the Black Holes and Revelations tours. A live version of "Micro Cuts" appears on the live albums Hullabaloo Soundtrack and H.A.A.R.P..
During The Resistance tour, the outro is played in place of the outro to "Dead Star" and on The 2nd Law tour, the song was played after the roulette wheel landed on green on the April 24th gig at Montreal. It was the first time that the song had been played since the Reading & Leeds festivals in 2011. The song was finally played during Tokyo Zepp gig, before it mades its return in 2015 for the Download Festival.
Lyrics
Hands are red with your blame
Megaphone screaming my name Whimpers someone I should've loved Souls weeping above
I've seen What you’re doing to me Destroying puppet strings To our souls
Micro waves me insane A blade cuts in your brain Sounds like forks on a plate Blackboard scratched with hate
I've seen What you’re doing to me Destroying puppet strings To our souls
Early live version
I'll destroy your puppet strings to my soul
instead of
Destroying puppet strings to our souls
Early versions included an extra vocal piece towards the end - though the wording is not known - and included sections of the riff from Execution Commentary.
Florence 2007 version
Souls screaming above
instead of
Souls weeping above
References
- ↑ NME - Vengeance is ours! [November 2001]
- ↑ Rock Sound - 2001
- ↑ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s7TOd9-CDKQ
- ↑ https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x5b1aib
- ↑ [Florence 2007-05-30 recording]. Muselive. Retrieved from www.muselive.com.