“One Track Mind” features a Washtenaw County artist or band discussing one song from their latest release.

Standout Track: No. 4, "Rain (We Are Alive)," by Ann Arbor vocal-looping artist Ki5 from his new four-track EP, Mind, with guest vocals from Aviva Match. The artist born Kyler Wilkins writes uplifting, soul-centric, a capella pop that is usually built by him sampling his own voice to provide the harmonic and rhythmic beds of his songs as well as the melodic leads. On some previous releases, Wilkins has strayed outside of vox-only jams and incorporated the likes of drums, synths, bass, and viola, but for "Rain," it's just body parts—mouth and hands—to make all the sounds, including the liquid percussion. "'Rain' was inspired by a want to encourage presence by engaging with senses of hearing and touch," Wilkins said. "The first set of lyrics are 'Be free / Listen to the rain / We are alive,' and that very simply is an invitation to the present using hearing. The rain sounds [here] apply to the sense of touch through their creation with hand-clapping and snaps."

Musical Motivation: The arrangement begins with a harmonic tension that edges toward implied discord. Gospel-tinged melodies are set against constantly changing harmonies and clip-clopping percussive sounds, and that quiet tension lasts for about 90 seconds before a bass note comes in and ties together the disparate sounds. "Basically, I created a loose structure of the song based off the main melody and bass line, and then we sang over that in about 60 different ways—together and separately," Wilkins said. "Then, I sifted through all the vocals to find tasty harmonies, often utilizing suspended chord structures, and played with the timing of the vocal lines so they could continually crash on our ears like waves."

While "Rain" doesn't feature a traditional song structure, it builds in a way that makes it catchy like pop without undercutting the experimental nature of the song's creation. "The recording process was quite fun because Aviva and I would let the loops repeat, and we'd experiment with many different vocal lines without always hearing how they'd stack against one another," Wilkins said. "Later, I played more and more of our layers at a time and decided which 'takes' or snippets to keep and add to the overall mix and figure out at what point of the song I wanted them to be present."

Two's Not a Crowd: Ki5 has released three songs with Aviva Match since last summer, including the two tunes on Mind. Though Wilkins could do everything himself, and usually does, he's found a great musical partner in Match. "Aviva Match and I met each other playing Ultimate frisbee at Burns Park in summer of 2023, and we quickly realized we'd both been looking for people to make music with," Wilkins said. "Our collaboration began with playing cover tunes by the likes of Ed Sheeran [and] Ingrid Michaelson ... vocals and guitar, and over time we shifted to using a loop station together. I like to collaborate with her because she has a gorgeous voice, fantastic musical instincts, and similar appreciation of thoughtful, harmonic, human-centric composition that goes beyond notes. She's a kind soul who's a joy to be around and create with."

Christopher Porter is a library technician and the editor of Pulp. 

Related:
➥ "Ki5 loops his voice to produce sunny songs in perfect harmony" [Pulp, November 5, 2020]
➥ "He Just Wants to "Fly": Ki5 ponders escape and possibilities in his new song and video" [Pulp, November 18, 2021]