13% faster, yet 23 seconds longer: Wednesday Off 'Lie (Live)'

Today's NONOL PICK is 'Lie (Live)', a live single released on September 28 by Wednesday Off, a band rooted in blues, Southern rock and country. They re-recorded 'Lie', the second track on their June EP 'ON THE ROAD', playing together at JEMU (Jeju Music Creation Center). Measuring the two versions side by side, the live take is faster than the original, yet 23 seconds longer. We traced where those 23 seconds came from. Timestamps follow the official audio on Apple Music and YouTube Music.

0:00 · A different instrument opens the door

The original opens for almost 16 seconds with neither bass nor drums, and the voice comes in at 0:20. In the live version, the bass walks out alone for 8 seconds first, other instruments join at 0:08, and the voice and drums come in together at 0:14. Same song, but a different instrument takes the first step.

From 99 beats a minute to 112

The pace is different too. The original moves at about 99 beats a minute, the live one at about 112, the speed of tapping your foot 112 times a minute, so the live take is about 13% faster. Lining up the two recordings, a passage that comes at 2:50 in the original has already gone by at 2:24 in the live version. Up to here, the live take is 26 seconds ahead.

3:08 · The ending splits at the same spot

The fork comes in the final stretch. At 3:20 the original sets down the bass and the other instruments, and fades out quietly for almost 50 seconds with just the voice and drums kept low. The live take also stops all the backing at 3:08, leaving only the voices. But 16 seconds later, at 3:24, the other instruments come back first, then the drums at 3:28 and the bass at 3:36, and from 3:40 to 4:05 it drives harder than anywhere else in the song. Where the original quietly closes the door, the live take flings it open and walks out.

4:08 · Four seconds of voice, then fifteen of playing

The live version has one more turn. At 4:08 the band stops all at once and only the voice remains for about four seconds, then the band comes back at 4:12. From 4:16 to 4:27, the band plays on to the end with no voice. This last minute more than makes up the 26 seconds gained earlier, and the live take ends up at 4 minutes 33 seconds.

People who weren't on the original

According to the credits, besides the original five (vocals Jay Jung, guitar Younggil Kim, bass Eunho Son, drums Gweonnam Kim, organ and piano Junghyeon Joe), this live take features Beomjun Kim on pedal steel guitar, Jiseok Yoo on slide guitar and Soyoung Ahn and Yeji Hong on backing vocals. The pedal steel is a guitar laid flat on a knee-high stand, played by sliding a steel bar along the strings; it's the instrument behind country music's long, crying tones. Charles Yinling mixed and mastered it at The Blueroom Studios in Nashville. The music video mixes the JEMU recording with Osaka streets and stages from two music festivals. Listening to it back to back with the original makes the differences clearest.