In a blog documenting an interview Grimes took part in, Ableton asks about her musical process regarding how she uses their software. From this interview I’ve learnt that her development process is to write and develop as ideas come to her and tend to focus a lot on the tempo, claiming “Fast can be amazing, but then you have to simplify the drums. Slow can be amazing, but then you have to really perfect the groove. This is something I agonize over.” I looked at the lyrics in Oblivion and from this I can tell that the reason for writing this song was emotional expression and possibly portraying a message to others who have had the same kind of experience.
Her style is somewhat experimental and samples help with coming up with new sounds and ideas, as well as everyday sounds with melodic values. Oblivion sounds like it’s been made on a synth pad mixed with recordings and samples of her own voice pitched down and percussive sounds with reverb.
It feels very repetitive with some small changes closer to the end which is strangely calming, particularly in the end section where she repeats the same line 11 times.
As this album was recorded in 2004, I couldn’t find much information on software or their process of creation. Overall, the song isn’t that complex. It’s a looped electronic drum beat with a repeating brass section with some additional percussive sounds and a single note bass part. Different parts drop out for comedic effect in relation to the lyrics and build anticipation. In the second to last chorus, there’s an instrument playing the vocal melody layered with the vocals. Around the 2:45 mark, the instrumentals change to isolate a bass part and faint vocals, then the same pattern jumps back in for 4 bars before isolating the bass and drums and introducing a new breakdown section where backing vocals, faint lead vocals and an electronic violin melody loop played. To end the song, the first line of the song is repeated by itself.
This type of song uses repetition strategically as to shift the focus point to what the lyrics are as the whole album is a chronological story based on misfortunes, failed romance and emotional situations.