Analysis of Massive Attack 'Unfinished Symphony'

Massive Attack “Unfinished Symphony”

The song "Unfinished Sympathy", by Massive Attack an English trip hop group who also produced alongside Jonny Dollar, features vocals from Shara Nelson. The song was released as a part of the artist’s debut album ‘Blue Lines’, 1991. The album combines various musical elements into its arrangement, this including vocal and percussion samples, drum programming, and string orchestration by arranger Wil Malone.

The narrative based video is idealised on the loving someone more than they love you, the sorrowful lyrics depict, "How can I have a day without a night, you’re the book that I have opened, and now I've got to know much more." These both suggest she's had some kind of contact with the person but only a limited amount and it's left her wanting more. "Like a soul without a mind..." beautifully conveys the feeling of emptiness as a result of this desire, she is missing something she needs, although this could perhaps be a resignation to the fact she won't get what she wants. The line "You really hurt me baby..." expresses her angst and despair about the fact the other person pulled away or does not require her love, I don't think it's a reference to a previous relationship or questioning whether she will get hurt if she enters a relationship. The entire video is filmed on a dolly, of which is tracking the female as she goes through the stages of recognition in Tzvetan Todorovs theory. Although the lyrics don’t physically match the visuals, audience can focus on certain aspects, in order to come to understand that she is unsure whether the next relationship is going to hurt her like the previous one and goes onto question, "How can have a day without a night". When she lip-syncs to this she looks hurt and her boy language becomes more hunched, thus demonstrating that she is confused by the question. She then goes on to state, "Like a soul without a mind", the active audience then need to question whether she is just lusting for a physical relationship without thinking of the hurt it could cause "In a body without a heart". Thus amplifying that although, classical purists may sniff at the slow-moving strings and soft piano work, the emotional effect is extraordinary when paired with Shara Nelson's vocal. A sleek, catchy drum program with a little shadowed scratching, complete this simple yet moving, dance production.    

This is all amplified by Nelson's "eerie" vocals and the evocative violin, demonstrating pain over a relations. A relationship between visuals and music is the created. Within the first 20 seconds of the video, when the singular beat evolves into the first verse, a gang of 5-8 men begin to walk .You notice that during production a CD of the soundtrack would have been played in order to  match the beat perfectly first time round, instead of editing the pace to the same of the song. As the song then nears to the penultimate instrumental ending, you notice that she is becoming more frustrated with herself for falling for this person. It is at this moment that she begin the process of restoring order to her life; additionally, a slow eye roll is purposely used to emphasise the key violin 'rift'.

As the whole video is based around a dolly tracking the female, she is looking directly into the camera, this them therefore, creates the notion of looking. Additionally this means there are no close ups to her specifically, it is medium to long shots instead. As she is looking directly into the camera, when as an audience come to understand that she, during recognition is becoming more confident. It is for that reason that there isn't any sexualisation and the need for Laura Mulvey’s theory of the 'Male Gaze' is non-existent. The reason for the producer to choose for the woman to be looking directly into the camera is an attempt to break the fourth wall, the band wanted to be closer to the audience. The woman therefore, is the medium to do this, she is a sense is asking the audience for help, and it is for them that she restores order at the end of the video. This idea of connecting with the audience is also found in the digipak for the single. 

The cover depicts a hand that is held in a way as if it is holding it up to reach for the audience’s hand. The naming of the single. 'Unfinished sympathy' could then be argued that Massive Attack are asking for the audience to finish the rest of the album, it is up to them how it ends. Although the needs and gratifications of Massive Attacks audience isn't as wildly idealised as other bands, their ways of connections to them , causes fans to keep listening to their music. The house style throughout the albums works is earthy colours with high contrasting, this is done to recreate the organic style of Massive Attack’s style, although you could argue that the colours used are similar to that of reggae, the audience isn't confused of this colour choice as it isn't the stereotypical reggae style, it is Massive Attacks take on it. This can then be supported by the fact that they are a band based on more than one genre, their music contains aspects of reggae, and therefore the covers house style represents this perfectly. The same image is again found on the poster advertising the album:

The poster, although is less coloured and the contrast appears to be higher, has continued the motif of this particular album. The unmistakable hand, with the name and title superimposed in the foreground, allows the audience to make the connection between the album cover and the poster. 

The poster also notes additional information depicting that various artist feature on the single, although this isn't found on the front panel of the digipak, you can understand that a sticker advertising the two artists would be placed on the CD; This in itself will than bring in a secondary audience and even a third, thus widening the already mass audience.

This style of high contrasting is again found in the music video itself, it is used to create the laid back sense, however this is opposed by the emotionally journey that the character is going through. 

The text on both the digipak and the poster are the same, - Arial Black - this continuity than allows the audience to make the connection stronger. On the front pane of the digipak, the full name of Massive Attack isn't added, the audience only read "Massive" followed by their logo. Due to Massive Attack having a recognised following from their given target audience, they now have a recognition factor. For example; when the audience member looks at the CD and Sees "Massive", they instantly make the connection of it being Massive Attacks work. Historically, the reason behind the dropping of the "Attack" was at the beginning of 1991 due to pressure from their record company, fearful that they would not get any radio airplay as “massive attack” was sensitive at the time (the Gulf War) This name change lasted for a period of 6 months but after which the Unfinished Sympathy single was never re-pressed meaning that only the Massive is on all copies of it.

The highly contrasted image of the hand and its colouring - red, green yellow and blue - follows the style of  the artists, additionally this reinforces the reggae style of this particular album. The style is continued onto the back pane where you come across a piece of artwork by Robert Del Naja, "In The Lab" Naja's work in itself is a motif of Massive Attacks style, also know as 3D, his artwork has been featured on all of the bands releases and he still holds his own in the current climate of the contemporary art world. Taking his cues from early punk album artwork, 3D was one of the first to experiment with spray paint with stencils in the street. 3D's ideal represents the same as Massive Attacks, both belonged to societies that were once considered an outsider, however their cutting edge approach to art (in varying forms) begun a new wave for the coming generations.       

The back pane's font is the same as the front and posters accompanying it - Arial Black - this is also recognisable with the majority of their work ; Massive Attack here have once again created a motif of their own and almost stylised this particular font to represent them and their work. Due to this particular CD being a single, the back panes media language only consists of the titles of the songs (four to be exact) and the small print detonating the institutional values and person els. The bar code and name of the single is found on the fold pane, this therefore allows for the art work on the back pane to be fully appreciated and not covered by economical needs.