Chocolate

The second single from The 1975’s self-titled debut album, “Chocolate” shows the band at their most commercially-oriented, showcasing multiple vocal and instrumental hooks wrapped up in slick pop production.

The 1975 – Chocolate

On the surface, this is a throwaway, indie-pop hit, but a closer look at the arrangement of “Chocolate” reveals that there’s more going on here than you might suspect after a first listen.

The main thing that I love about this song is that the bass is in charge of the chord progression at almost all times – the guitar parts are single-note lines, which could be harmonised in lots of different ways, so it’s down to the bass to define what the chord is at any given time.

“Chocolate” bass performance notes:

• We’re dealing with a straight 8ths, but swing 16ths feel here. This is one of those rhythmic feels that’s hard to generate if it’s just you and a metronome, but luckily we have a four-bar drum intro to give us the right cues.
• Much of Ross MacDonald’s bass part is built from extensive use of the open E string as an approach note. This is most noticeable in the verse part, where it sounds like he’s moving up the bass along the E string to get the same approach note and rhythmic feel for each chord.
• Although the verse and chorus chord progressions are all very ‘inside’ the key of B major, the middle 8 section (bar 33) features some more unusual harmony. The guitar parts are centred around a B major triad, while the bass moves underneath, creating a series of inversions and extended chords.
• This device is used again in the final chorus, as the bass reharmonises the original chorus chord progression to provide additional interest for the listener.