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I'd like to discover more artists which use long melodic phrases (especially unpredictable ones). For example,

  • Monstrous by Metronomy (and a lot of other songs by them)

  • O.N.E. by Yeasayer

  • Multi-Love by Unknown Mortal Orchestra

Thanks!

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It sounds like you might be interested in vocalese, a technique where the lyrics are fitted to a pre-composed instrumental line. It's most often, but not exclusively associated with jazz. The UMO piece in particular sounds like it might be an example of this technique.

Moody's Mood For Love is the paradigm-establishing piece that popularized the style (it's originally jazz song from the 50's, this is a more recent cover). Alicia Key's Mr. Man is a (somewhat) more modern example.

For a more alt-rock version of the technique, XTC has several songs that seem to qualify. Yacht Dance is a pretty good example. I'm afraid I don't personally know of any more contemporary examples.

Please let me know if this is in the right wheelhouse or completely off-track.

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  • I love Yacht Dance, don't really know much more of their stuff but I'll definitely check their other tracks out! I've not really heard much Jazz but I'm always open to new genres so I'll have a look at some vocalese artists as well. This technique sounds very interesting anyway. Thanks for the info! :)
    – MattBurrows
    Oct 13, 2015 at 18:20
  • Did you know XTC already? If you like their stuff, "Greenman", "Senses Working Overtime" and "Another Satellite" might be other good candidates. I'm not sure any of them are an exact match for what you're looking for, but it's kind of a subjective call anyway...
    – Chris Sunami
    Oct 13, 2015 at 19:01

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