Kirby Super Star — 06: Bubbly Clouds

This week, we're covering an endearingly simple, and playful little waltz:

(Click to enlarge)

Flash Player

Read on for a breakdown on “Bubbly Clouds”!

Harmony and Melody

We're hitting a few firsts in our rundown on Kirby Super Star: for one, this is the first piece we've encountered that is not in 4/4 time, and in addition to it being a waltz, it's in G major—making this the first time we've seen this key signature.

The first eight bars serve as our introduction, and show off some of the characteristics of the piece, such as the prominent bass line that arpeggiates the harmony, the 3/4 signature, etc. You'll notice the chords here consist of the simple handful of I, ii, and V.

Descending chromatic line (m. 8)

Check out that little chromatic descending bit the organ does to lead into the “A” section. You can see that it's constantly hitting a D, and after the first hit a second voice joins in and descends chromatically starting from C♯ down to A. At the same time the bass drones on a D, until the end of the bar where it walks up to lead into the “A” section's G. And notice how this all leads up to the three voices spelling out a D major chord at the last second! This won't be the last time we'll see this chromatic line in this piece.

"A" Section

Ah, listen to that childlike melody, sweet stuff. As you can see the harmony line is mostly in thirds, but it mixes things up and throws in other intervals. There's even a tritone slyly slipped in in measure 14!

And that bass line is nothing to sneeze at either, it has a dynamic, rhythmic flow to it. Notice the pattern it has:

Bass pattern (m. 9 - 12)

A set of five eighth notes and a rest in the first bar, a pair of eighths and quarters in the next, another five eighths like in the first bar, and finally a full set of six eighth notes. The pattern then repeats. This all lends a fun, start-and-stop rhythm to this section. You'll notice this pattern was established in the introduction too.

This pattern is broken in measure 21, along with another pattern: this is the first time we're treated to notes and chords outside of strict G major. They're the now-familiar ♭VI and ♭VII chords that Kirby Super Star loves to use.

"B" Section

The “B” section is heralded by the entrance of an adorable toy piano. As should be expected of the composers by now, they vary up the feel in many ways; for example, the toy piano has a staccato sound in contrast to the flowing flutes of the previous section, or take how the harmony line is now replaced with a separate harmony figuration delivered by some pan flutes. And gone are the varied rhythmic patterns of the bass line, as it now plays a steady stream of eighths.

This section spends most of its time vamping between F (♭VII) and G (I), which creates an interesting cross-relation between the two: both F natural and F sharp appear in the pan-flute accompaniment, keeping the feeling of being in G major with some slight mixolydian leanings.

Something worth mentioning is the phrase construction here. Notice how structure-wise, this piece is fairly typical: the introduction is 8 bars, the “A” section is 16 bars, and the “B” section is likewise another 16 bars. So far so normal. But we'll soon see how the “B” section subtly rebels against this divisible-by-four pattern with its second melody.

Symmetrical phrases in bars 25 - 32

Now, here's a more run-of-the-mill (4 + 4) symmetrical melodic construction, where the melody can be divided logically into a pair of phrases of 4 measures each.

Asymmetrical phrases in bars 33 - 40

The melody here, on the other hand, sits divided into a more distinctive (5 + 3), asymmetrical construction. And the instrument switch here is the composer making sure we hear these as separate phrases. A little thing like this really helps work against this piece feeling too boxy or foursquare. Another tiny instance of this can be seen in measures 13 – 16 too.

We can see a similar principle at work in the chord progression too: while it typically changes once every other bar, sometimes it changes every bar, and starting at measure 37 it stays on F for three bars, the only such case in the track.

Descending chromatic line reappears (m. 38-40)

Also notice how the descending chromatic motif from the introduction is back, though this time it's more incorporated into the melody line instead of just hanging out by itself like it was in the intro.

And finally closing out the track, we're treated to a slightly altered version of the introduction after the “B” section, where the more jumpy, fragmentary chord stabs are replaced by steady eighth notes in the organ part. And in a strange twist, the bass line has an echo applied to it, and it's only done in this altered intro! It's something almost imperceptible on a casual listen, but it just goes to show how detail-oriented the composers were.

Arrangement

The arrangement is light and airy, appropriate considering the title. Contributing to this is the number of melodic voices in this piece: for the first time in KSS, there are only a maximum of 3 melodic voices playing at a time, lending a thin sound to the proceedings. Due in part to the harmonically active bass line spelling out chords though, it doesn't sound empty at all.

The instrumentation is as fluid as we've come to expect, and we're treated to a number of different timbres throughout the short piece. Even the bass guitar joins in, as it changes from its more slap-like sound to a mellower, fretless sound in measures 33 – 40.

Last Thoughts

So, then: another article, another worthy track with tons of tiny fascinating details. I'm particularly fond of the asymmetrical phrases found in this piece, it's a sophisticated technique, and yet here's Kirby Super Star, using them like it's nothing. We're halfway through the Spring Breeze sub-game and its music, next up we'll analyze the boss battle music, and we'll touch on some of the jingles in this game. See you next time!

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