Chord Recontextualization

Chord Recontextualization is a musical phenomenon where the "feel" of a chord progression is altered when paired with other motes (such as it being played by different instruments or having a melody going alongside it). It is the negative version of reharmonization, where instead of changing the chords of a song to give the motes around it a different feel, the motes around the chord progression are changed to make the chord progression "feel" different without altering its notes.

Types of chord recontextualization

Melodic chord recontextualization

An interesting example of Melodic Chord Recontextualization works by disguising chords that could be argued to sound "dissonant or out of place" as "interesting and natural" by putting them in the context of a melody while keeping the chord itself intact. Simply adding a melodic line to a song can trick the human ear into focusing on where the melody is going instead of what the chords are doing, allowing for a complex chord progression to blend into the background and act as the harmonic foundation of a song, painting the song with vibrant colors without scaring the average listener by its lack of 251s. It also allows to shift the tone and intentions of the chords by creating harmonic contrast with the melody.

A good example of this is this section of Orange Festival from Fizz Vol. 1, where Israel Strom made the melody of the bass brighter so a bright Mixolydian chord from the chord progression would feel darker in comparison, recontextualizing the chord without changing any of its notes.

Note: Melodic chord recontextualization is not reharmonization, it is a phenomenon where the intentions and "feel" of a chord progression are hidden/diluted/shifted rather than changed. Reharmonization reimagines a chord progression while melodic chord recontextualization makes one thing feel different by keeping it intact and changing its surrounding motes instead.

Tonal chord recontextualization

Tonal Chord Recontextualization is a strange phenomenon similar to melodic chord recontextualization where the "feel" of a chord is changed without altering any of their notes, but this time the recontextualizing motes are the instruments that make up and surround that chord instead of the melody that outlines it. Some examples of those motes are: the instrument(s) playing the chords, any instruments that play alongside it, the effects that those instruments are run through, etc.

A good example of this is the second drop of OLDBONES from WHAT REMAINS (EP), where the chords are the exact same same chords from the previous section, but when put in the context of a darker, heavier drop and when being played by a brighter, louder and more distorted synthesizer, it gives off the illusion that it is a completely different chord progression being played instead.

Note: This should not be confused with simply swapping instruments. Tonal chord recontextualization implies that the same chord progression is perceived as something different by changing the instruments that surround it, not by giving the same chord progression a different instrument and calling it a day. If the chords sound like a different instrument is playing them and nothing more then the phenomenon simply did not occur.