Before the release of his latest album, Yeezus, Kanye West switched the first track from “Blood on the Leaves” to “On Sight”. West admitted this decision made his album less popular, but felt that it was necessary to properly convey the themes of frustration he hoped to represent in his album. After listening to these two pieces, I agreed with his assessment. While I enjoyed “Blood on the Leaves” more, “On Sight” was better at inciting emotions of frustration within the listener. I found “Blood on the Leaves” to be more aurally pleasing, but “On Sight” to possess the greater emotional impact. The two pieces are distinguished by elements of melody and texture that made “Blood on the Leaves” a more enjoyable piece than “On Sight”. However, there are similarities in use of time, rhythm, text, and compositional context between the two pieces. Nonetheless, the differences in timbre between the pieces clearly demonstrate “Blood on the Leaves” to be the superior work in terms of the sensual plane of enjoyment, but proved it less interesting than “On Sight”, which defied expectations of both the genre of music and the general style of the composer. I enjoyed “Blood on the …show more content…
While the sounds of “Blood on the Leaves” were more aurally pleasing, “On Sight” generated the greatest emotional impact. The two pieces shared similarities in rhythm and use of text, but were vastly different. The use of time, melody, texture, and timbre in “Blood on the Leaves” made it a more entertaining piece than “On Sight”, which made for a much less enjoyable listening experience due to its lack of complexity. However, the creative use of timbre in “On Sight” to directly elicit a negative emotional response pushes the boundaries of its genre. It is for this reason that I conclude “On Sight” to be superior to “Blood on the Leaves” in its artistic