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Reich - It’s Gonna Rain

 

Reich’s composition “It’s Gonna Rain“ was in the first place composed differently. When Reich was walking around in a park in San Francisco with his tape recorder, he discovers a preacher laying it down about Noah and the flood. Hence, he decides to record this man with his tape recorder. The reason why “It’s Gonna Rain“ developed more or less accidentally is that Reich’s tape loops went out of synch in his studio, “exposing the sounds between the sounds, magical pulsations that he wasn’t looking for, sounds that set his ears on fire and put his mind in a trance-like state.“[1] Reich’s music would be called pulse, phase, beat, or pattern music.

The way I perceived “It’s Gonna Rain“ was as techno-like and full of rhythm composition. Reich’s composition sets me in the mood of standing up in the middle of the seminar and starting to rave, which would have been obviously inappropriate. Additionally, such kind of rhythm and music catch you in a way that you subconsciously start bobbing with the rhythm. Even though I am not the kind of person who is into techno-like music, Reich’s composition seems to be very fun and interesting. The sound that occurs between the chopped or full-length line of “It’s Gonna Rain“ somehow remembers me of Donald Duck’s quacking, which adds a funny effect to the composition.

During his composition of 8.03 minutes, the sound kind of follows the same pattern. His recording of “It’s Gonna Rain“ repeats multiple times, either in full length or interrupted and clipped in multiple different lengths. Furthermore, it seems as if the recording is played back again from different multiple distances, which causes the effect that “It’s Gonna Rain“ sounds differently. This means that Reich’s compositions somehow fade away.

What I also really like about Reich’s composition was his use of bilateral stimulation. This effect of fading away sounds is called “bilateral stimulation“, which has an impact on the brain’s neural networks. This stimulation calms the neural system. The most impact is perceived when closing your eyes and listening to the moving and fading sounds. Certainly, “It’s Gonna Rain“ does not have a calming impact on the listener, still, the effect of sounds fading away is very interesting and catches the listener.

Overall, I perceived Reich’s “It’s Gonna Rain“ as very fun, dance-like, motivating, and positive. I have to admit that I would not listen to it, when trying to learn or as an alarm sound, still, I really liked it and this experience was very joyful.


[1] Seminar Präsentation from the 11th of January, 2023 - Seminar: The Future of American Music

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