The hidden sounds in Humanoid/Tom singing Monsoon
You know how sometimes you can unplug your headphone jack slightly and it removes the center, foreground sounds? You know, in a sound field.... the sounds in the center are usually the main vocals and effects. That's the foreground. And the other background effects are quieter and more "on the sides" and not in the center of the sound field? It's almost like those background sounds are "hidden" because they're simply not as prominent as the foreground sounds. There are secrets hiding in the background.
I did this with Tokio Hotel's Humanoid today. I discovered some neat things.
The first thing I discovered was that the instruments (guitar, bass, drums) sound pretty much the same in the background and foreground. They are more present in the foreground. There aren't many instrumental effects in the background, other than some occasional sound effects (like the whooshy technology sounds during the chorus of "Humanoid," and the electric zappy sounds at the end). So this is why I'm mostly going to talk about Bill's vocals, since those are what are so noticeably different when you listen to the background.
I'm going to outline my findings song by song. I put my ears on discern/analyze mode.
Alien has some discord in it! There's notes that aren't perfectly harmonious and resolved. They make some of the notes have a clenched, unresolved effect. The harmonies are rich in this one, and jumpy. Some are like "low low low OMG HIGH NOTE low low low." Like the line "Come and wake me from THE DEAD!!!!!!" The lyric "the dead" is like that.
Geisterfahrer has hardly anything neat going on in the background except some harmonies during the final chorus. Those are similar to what Bill sings when he sings Phantomrider live.
Komm has very reverby vocals, as if Bill were singing in a huge echoy concert hall. The chorus has some awesome deep-voiced Bill harmonies. The "oo-whoa-whoa's" were still pretty loud even in the background.
Darkside/Sonnesystem had really tinny guitar sounds. It reminded me of how dissapointed that the guitar parts weren't stronger and rockier. They're very clean sounding, and I wanted to hear more overdriven, dirtier guitar sounds. Ahh, well. They're the pros, not me.
Automatisch/Automatic has echoed vocals like you wouldn't believe! They're super delayed and off the beat, even. Bill is "aaahhhhh-ing" through the chorus, but you can hear that in the foreground too. This is like Geisterfahrer -- what you hear is what you get. There's nothing particularly neat "hidden" in the background.
Humanoid. Bill's voice is very prominent even in the background. It's the effect they used on it, you know -- how it kinda sounds processed like it's sung through a megaphone. Bill sounds so robotic in the chorus. There's some dreamy, swoopy glissando "ah-ah's" in the background when he's singing about being caught in too many worlds. There's a lot of high-frequency noise in this song that's hidden in the background.
Kampf der liebe/Pain of love is especially rich in beautiful Bill harmonies. He sings the same words octaves apart, low and high. In the background, you can hear the higher part better. During the verses, the higher-pitched Bill notes are very all autotuned, which is interesting because the main, deeper vocals are not. The higher pitched voice is surprisingly featureless as well, as if Bill is singing a part and trying to blend in and not make his voice stand out. The chorus is a dream of harmonies. It's like a glorious Bill choir.
Dogs Unleashed/Hunde has some really interesting echo effects -- there are multiple echoes layered on top of each other and staggered to start at different times. The echoes have echoes, lol. And Bill's panting is really clear in the background. HRRNG. The chorus has a lot going on with Bill's vocals. There are some seriously deep voices here, and harmonies all over. The German version has richer harmonies than the English version. The deep voice sounds like Bill, but modified to be lower. I can do that in my own music editing program -- lower my pitch to make myself sound like a man. That's how Bill's voice sounds -- artificially deeper. The part with "touch me, treat me/dogs unleashed, we are dogs unleashed...." Eargasm. Bill is singing all over the place with lovely harmonies spread out high to low. Very full sounding. UNF THE PANTING AGAIN.
Human Connect/Menschen. The guitars are so clear in the background. It's nice. Bill's voice is completely absent in the background until the chorus. The guitars are what's interesting in the background of this song. The "such mich" parts -- omg I threw my head back, honestly. My eyes rolled to the back of my head. HIS VOICE THERE, OMG. Bill's voice is so clear singing this part.
Hey du/you. There is an echo on the vocals that is around 1 1/2 beats late. That's really delayed! It's a bit disconcerting trying to listen and follow along. The "HEY DU" is really rich sounding! It sounds like a huge group of men screaming it. For most of the whole song, there's a funny little synthy sound that goes "ooooweeeeeeooooooweeeeeeeooooooo" high and low. I noticed it in the background more than I do in the foreground.
Love and Death/Traumer. CHORUS HARMONIES. These brought tears to my eyes and rapture to my ears. "Wir sind TRAUMER." The word "traumer" is where that's all happening. This was glorious to hear. The rest of the song wasn't hiding anything.
Edit: vanillalatte88 made me realize I forgot a lot of songs. Thanks! Adding these in (I don't deserve to call myself a TH fan).
Forever Now. Bill's voice is reverby like he's singing in that concert hall again. The wawawa's are clearer, and now I can tell they're not a voice but an digital instrument. There's some twangy, almost middle-eastern guitar I hadn't noticed before. The chorus harmonies are full and lovely. Bill's background vocals when he says "now" are really nasally, even for Bill. During the second verse, there's this awesome buzzy synth that only plays for 4 measures! That's sad. You hear it later, but not as loudly. There are a ton of middle-eastern sounding things in this song. That's a reason I love Humanoid -- the diversity of sound and style. Bill's harmony on "forever today, forever tonight, reset your eyes, erase your mind" are hilariously drone-y for some reason, as if he's really bored singing them. This song is a lot more rich than I thought it'd be. On "(erase your) mind," Bill sings a three-part harmony and it's lovely! For "Let's run into the pouring rain," Bill sings the high and low parts one octave apart like he does in Pain of Love. I hadn't noticed the high parts! The "Whisper me" parts echo hauntingly. The guitar is ambient and dreamy at that part. What artistry, Tom! The guitar during the chorus is also ambient, but energetic too. How come I've never loved this song? It's a musical journey.
That Day. The snare is so crisp and electronic, like someone scraping something a knift against metal while stepping on cornflakes. That's the first thing I noticed in the background. The other was the guitar, which is very melodic. I honestly don't listen to anything but Bill's lovely grunty gaspy voice in this song-- so sorry, Tom! Sorry, G's. There's a tambourine in this song, really small and crisp. Holy shit, "broken" just echoed in my ears, from the left sound field (ear) to the right sound field, really clearly. That's so sexy. Also, just a tip -- well-done left-to-right-to left sound field shifting (aka panning) is an easy way to get me to eargasm. It's like a trigger to instant auditory bliss. Understandably, I replayed that. sdklhkgjhlkjahslkjh Bill just hissed in my ears that it's gonna be ok, one day, one day. I replayed that, too. Omg, I wish I could show you guys. Maybe if I can figure out the Audacity sound editing program. Bill's vocals are echoey during the chorus. There's a lot of high-pitched noise that drowns out everything until the next verse. Man, these songs are noisy. There's a weird sound effect that's a squeaky noise after "doctors and your promises." It sounds like a combo of guitar feedback noise and R2D2. I never noticed it. It's hidden -- that's why! It goes up, squeak squeak up... then it slides back down. Squeak sqeaak down.
Screamin' is noisy, there's tons of disorganized noise. Bill's vocals echo after a delay two beats. Bill screams in the background while the foreground Bill sings "I'm such a sad sad sight...." You know how he says "I'm screaming on the top of the world" before the chorus starts? They modified and layered different clips of Bill saying that. Bill speaks it in his normal voice, and another layer says it in a voice they pitched higher up. He sounds like a sassy teenage girl in that layer. That's what gives that line an artificial, digitalized feel when you listen to the foregrounded song. There's digital beeping like Gameboy music during the chorus that I hadn't noticed. This song is very noisy. During "And I'm so close [...] yet it hurts so," Bill is whispering those lyrics too. I got chills. He also whispers along to "top of the world." The whispers layer with him speaking it too. When he whispers it, his inflection goes up, while when he's speaking his inflection goes down. There's multiple Bill's saying/singing/whispering/screaming "top of the world" with different tones of voice. Wow. I can't really describe it. The song ends with a lot of buzzing noises and guitar feedback in the background.
Down on You! During the chorus, Bill sings along with himself in harmony and it's very adorable for some reason. There's the "oo-oo-oo-oo's" during the chorus -- those are hard to pick up on listening to the foreground because there's a lot of other sound going on at that time. They're clear in the background.
Attention. Bill sings soft, sustained "ooooh" notes during the verse and bridge. It's an ethereal two-part harmony. During the chorus, there is an artificial deep-voiced Bill like there was in Hunde. It's probably there to add fullness and richness to Bill's admittedly thin and reedy voice. He's also singing the same notes in a falsetto an octave higher. He actually "ooooh's" through the chorus, too! Tom's guitar chords during the whole "I'm standing in the pain that's smothering me" bit are really melodic and delicate.
Hurricanes and Suns is very warped. It's like listening to it underwater. I think I have a bad quality version? Maybe it's just bad quality itself because it sounds like a demo. The sound isn't polished like their album songs. You're basically hearing what you get. Damn. I would have loved hearing Bill's deep voice up close and personal.
Shadow. The strings during the bridge are clearer in the background. Bill's voice is reverby. Is this another demo? It's warped sounding as well. During the chorus there are Bill harmonies I hadn't heard before. They're pitched higher than the main melody. There's Bill harmonies the rest of the song. He even does falsetto some parts.
Zoom is really pretty. Not only is Bill's voice reverby and soft-sounding, but the piano is, too. Ooooh, the piano is so clear in the background. I'm convinced Tom didn't record this piano part on a real piano, because you know how the pressure you put on the piano key makes it louder or softer? The pressures and volumes of each note are too regulated and perfect for a novice piano player like Tom. He played it digitally and went in to edit individual note volumes later. That's a lot of work (I've done it). The piano, omg I'm starting to tear up. With Bill's wailing piercing voice out of the way a bit, the piano sounds so full-timbred, woody, and gorgeous. The chorus has such lovely piano. Remember the diversity of the Humanoid record? Again, I really appreciate this musical diversity. There's these neat echoy drum hits and little fluttering guitar things. ;_; Ok, I'm crying now. What a beautiful piano part. It's so enchanting and magical, wow. The last chorus increases the piano volume noticeably, almost painfully. He's slamming the keys. The end chords are so powerful and pretty. He's banging them like Gustav bangs his drums.
Lass uns Laufen. Very reverby soft vocal ambiance. You're getting what you hear with this song. The only neat thing was how clearly I heard Bill sing "uber unser fall."
BONUS! I'm one of those awful fans who Bill hates because I downloaded the leaked Humanoid songs before they were ready. Remember they leaked? So now I'm listening to the pre-release demo Pain of Love and Bill pants during the entire song. They took that part out in the official album version. Maybe that's a good thing because it would waste water to have all the fangirls do the laundry to wash their creamed panties. Thanks for thinking of the environment, TH. OMG he's panting in my ear HE'S PANTING IN MY EARS. HE DOES IT DURING THAT QUIET PART SO THAT'S ALL I HEAR -- HIS HEAVY BREATHING IN MY EAR DURING "And we go on and we go on and on and on" right before the final chorus. It's just panting omg. So moving on (I replayed his heavy breathing 4 times) the rest of the song is nothing special.
OK so I'm a music nerd, you guys should know this by now. Or if you didn't, now you do. This is how I spend my Friday nights.
I also listened to Monsoon with my headphones like this. The background vocals were pretty clear. I've never believed Tom sang the background vocals in Monsoon. It's always sounded like Bill to me, and it still does. It's Bill's accent. His and Tom's accents aren't the same. It's just Bill tapping into his deeper fuller voice. I'm going to outline why I believe it's Bill singing.
-Bill does his unique vocal eccentricities like making the ends of his words suddenly pitch up in this little gaspy sound. You know what I'm referring to, right? He does it all the time.
-The "uh" vowel in "running (somewhere new)" is so Bill, it's simply Bill's voice. All the vowel sounds are, actually.
-In "hold (me back from you)," the "h" sound is pitchy, breathy, and uniquely Bill, like he says it in "Hello, the end is near."
-In the "just me and you," "just" is pronounced the funny little way Bill does it, in which (brace yourself -- technical talk) Bill slightly delays the onset of the vowel after producing the "j" sound. And then when he begins voicing the vowel, he eases into it with that scratchy glottal fry voice, sliding ever so recognizably from one voice register (glottal fry) into his normal singing register. He does the delayed vowel/glottal fry in other songs (very noticeably in the live versions of Phantomrider and Zoom).
It's a cute idea that Tom sings background vocals, but I'm sorry to say he doesn't. I'm super familiar with Bill's pronunciation (being a linguistics/phonetics nerd), and the unique timbre of his voice and vowel sounds. He is my favorite, after all -- and I dote on his every word. I've been trained to listen to people's speech and voice, since those kinds of things gonna be my job someday. In conclusion, I'm 100% confident that Bill sings the background vocals in Monsoon.
I did this with Tokio Hotel's Humanoid today. I discovered some neat things.
The first thing I discovered was that the instruments (guitar, bass, drums) sound pretty much the same in the background and foreground. They are more present in the foreground. There aren't many instrumental effects in the background, other than some occasional sound effects (like the whooshy technology sounds during the chorus of "Humanoid," and the electric zappy sounds at the end). So this is why I'm mostly going to talk about Bill's vocals, since those are what are so noticeably different when you listen to the background.
I'm going to outline my findings song by song. I put my ears on discern/analyze mode.
Alien has some discord in it! There's notes that aren't perfectly harmonious and resolved. They make some of the notes have a clenched, unresolved effect. The harmonies are rich in this one, and jumpy. Some are like "low low low OMG HIGH NOTE low low low." Like the line "Come and wake me from THE DEAD!!!!!!" The lyric "the dead" is like that.
Geisterfahrer has hardly anything neat going on in the background except some harmonies during the final chorus. Those are similar to what Bill sings when he sings Phantomrider live.
Komm has very reverby vocals, as if Bill were singing in a huge echoy concert hall. The chorus has some awesome deep-voiced Bill harmonies. The "oo-whoa-whoa's" were still pretty loud even in the background.
Darkside/Sonnesystem had really tinny guitar sounds. It reminded me of how dissapointed that the guitar parts weren't stronger and rockier. They're very clean sounding, and I wanted to hear more overdriven, dirtier guitar sounds. Ahh, well. They're the pros, not me.
Automatisch/Automatic has echoed vocals like you wouldn't believe! They're super delayed and off the beat, even. Bill is "aaahhhhh-ing" through the chorus, but you can hear that in the foreground too. This is like Geisterfahrer -- what you hear is what you get. There's nothing particularly neat "hidden" in the background.
Humanoid. Bill's voice is very prominent even in the background. It's the effect they used on it, you know -- how it kinda sounds processed like it's sung through a megaphone. Bill sounds so robotic in the chorus. There's some dreamy, swoopy glissando "ah-ah's" in the background when he's singing about being caught in too many worlds. There's a lot of high-frequency noise in this song that's hidden in the background.
Kampf der liebe/Pain of love is especially rich in beautiful Bill harmonies. He sings the same words octaves apart, low and high. In the background, you can hear the higher part better. During the verses, the higher-pitched Bill notes are very all autotuned, which is interesting because the main, deeper vocals are not. The higher pitched voice is surprisingly featureless as well, as if Bill is singing a part and trying to blend in and not make his voice stand out. The chorus is a dream of harmonies. It's like a glorious Bill choir.
Dogs Unleashed/Hunde has some really interesting echo effects -- there are multiple echoes layered on top of each other and staggered to start at different times. The echoes have echoes, lol. And Bill's panting is really clear in the background. HRRNG. The chorus has a lot going on with Bill's vocals. There are some seriously deep voices here, and harmonies all over. The German version has richer harmonies than the English version. The deep voice sounds like Bill, but modified to be lower. I can do that in my own music editing program -- lower my pitch to make myself sound like a man. That's how Bill's voice sounds -- artificially deeper. The part with "touch me, treat me/dogs unleashed, we are dogs unleashed...." Eargasm. Bill is singing all over the place with lovely harmonies spread out high to low. Very full sounding. UNF THE PANTING AGAIN.
Human Connect/Menschen. The guitars are so clear in the background. It's nice. Bill's voice is completely absent in the background until the chorus. The guitars are what's interesting in the background of this song. The "such mich" parts -- omg I threw my head back, honestly. My eyes rolled to the back of my head. HIS VOICE THERE, OMG. Bill's voice is so clear singing this part.
Hey du/you. There is an echo on the vocals that is around 1 1/2 beats late. That's really delayed! It's a bit disconcerting trying to listen and follow along. The "HEY DU" is really rich sounding! It sounds like a huge group of men screaming it. For most of the whole song, there's a funny little synthy sound that goes "ooooweeeeeeooooooweeeeeeeooooooo" high and low. I noticed it in the background more than I do in the foreground.
Love and Death/Traumer. CHORUS HARMONIES. These brought tears to my eyes and rapture to my ears. "Wir sind TRAUMER." The word "traumer" is where that's all happening. This was glorious to hear. The rest of the song wasn't hiding anything.
Edit: vanillalatte88 made me realize I forgot a lot of songs. Thanks! Adding these in (I don't deserve to call myself a TH fan).
Forever Now. Bill's voice is reverby like he's singing in that concert hall again. The wawawa's are clearer, and now I can tell they're not a voice but an digital instrument. There's some twangy, almost middle-eastern guitar I hadn't noticed before. The chorus harmonies are full and lovely. Bill's background vocals when he says "now" are really nasally, even for Bill. During the second verse, there's this awesome buzzy synth that only plays for 4 measures! That's sad. You hear it later, but not as loudly. There are a ton of middle-eastern sounding things in this song. That's a reason I love Humanoid -- the diversity of sound and style. Bill's harmony on "forever today, forever tonight, reset your eyes, erase your mind" are hilariously drone-y for some reason, as if he's really bored singing them. This song is a lot more rich than I thought it'd be. On "(erase your) mind," Bill sings a three-part harmony and it's lovely! For "Let's run into the pouring rain," Bill sings the high and low parts one octave apart like he does in Pain of Love. I hadn't noticed the high parts! The "Whisper me" parts echo hauntingly. The guitar is ambient and dreamy at that part. What artistry, Tom! The guitar during the chorus is also ambient, but energetic too. How come I've never loved this song? It's a musical journey.
That Day. The snare is so crisp and electronic, like someone scraping something a knift against metal while stepping on cornflakes. That's the first thing I noticed in the background. The other was the guitar, which is very melodic. I honestly don't listen to anything but Bill's lovely grunty gaspy voice in this song-- so sorry, Tom! Sorry, G's. There's a tambourine in this song, really small and crisp. Holy shit, "broken" just echoed in my ears, from the left sound field (ear) to the right sound field, really clearly. That's so sexy. Also, just a tip -- well-done left-to-right-to left sound field shifting (aka panning) is an easy way to get me to eargasm. It's like a trigger to instant auditory bliss. Understandably, I replayed that. sdklhkgjhlkjahslkjh Bill just hissed in my ears that it's gonna be ok, one day, one day. I replayed that, too. Omg, I wish I could show you guys. Maybe if I can figure out the Audacity sound editing program. Bill's vocals are echoey during the chorus. There's a lot of high-pitched noise that drowns out everything until the next verse. Man, these songs are noisy. There's a weird sound effect that's a squeaky noise after "doctors and your promises." It sounds like a combo of guitar feedback noise and R2D2. I never noticed it. It's hidden -- that's why! It goes up, squeak squeak up... then it slides back down. Squeak sqeaak down.
Screamin' is noisy, there's tons of disorganized noise. Bill's vocals echo after a delay two beats. Bill screams in the background while the foreground Bill sings "I'm such a sad sad sight...." You know how he says "I'm screaming on the top of the world" before the chorus starts? They modified and layered different clips of Bill saying that. Bill speaks it in his normal voice, and another layer says it in a voice they pitched higher up. He sounds like a sassy teenage girl in that layer. That's what gives that line an artificial, digitalized feel when you listen to the foregrounded song. There's digital beeping like Gameboy music during the chorus that I hadn't noticed. This song is very noisy. During "And I'm so close [...] yet it hurts so," Bill is whispering those lyrics too. I got chills. He also whispers along to "top of the world." The whispers layer with him speaking it too. When he whispers it, his inflection goes up, while when he's speaking his inflection goes down. There's multiple Bill's saying/singing/whispering/screaming "top of the world" with different tones of voice. Wow. I can't really describe it. The song ends with a lot of buzzing noises and guitar feedback in the background.
Down on You! During the chorus, Bill sings along with himself in harmony and it's very adorable for some reason. There's the "oo-oo-oo-oo's" during the chorus -- those are hard to pick up on listening to the foreground because there's a lot of other sound going on at that time. They're clear in the background.
Attention. Bill sings soft, sustained "ooooh" notes during the verse and bridge. It's an ethereal two-part harmony. During the chorus, there is an artificial deep-voiced Bill like there was in Hunde. It's probably there to add fullness and richness to Bill's admittedly thin and reedy voice. He's also singing the same notes in a falsetto an octave higher. He actually "ooooh's" through the chorus, too! Tom's guitar chords during the whole "I'm standing in the pain that's smothering me" bit are really melodic and delicate.
Hurricanes and Suns is very warped. It's like listening to it underwater. I think I have a bad quality version? Maybe it's just bad quality itself because it sounds like a demo. The sound isn't polished like their album songs. You're basically hearing what you get. Damn. I would have loved hearing Bill's deep voice up close and personal.
Shadow. The strings during the bridge are clearer in the background. Bill's voice is reverby. Is this another demo? It's warped sounding as well. During the chorus there are Bill harmonies I hadn't heard before. They're pitched higher than the main melody. There's Bill harmonies the rest of the song. He even does falsetto some parts.
Zoom is really pretty. Not only is Bill's voice reverby and soft-sounding, but the piano is, too. Ooooh, the piano is so clear in the background. I'm convinced Tom didn't record this piano part on a real piano, because you know how the pressure you put on the piano key makes it louder or softer? The pressures and volumes of each note are too regulated and perfect for a novice piano player like Tom. He played it digitally and went in to edit individual note volumes later. That's a lot of work (I've done it). The piano, omg I'm starting to tear up. With Bill's wailing piercing voice out of the way a bit, the piano sounds so full-timbred, woody, and gorgeous. The chorus has such lovely piano. Remember the diversity of the Humanoid record? Again, I really appreciate this musical diversity. There's these neat echoy drum hits and little fluttering guitar things. ;_; Ok, I'm crying now. What a beautiful piano part. It's so enchanting and magical, wow. The last chorus increases the piano volume noticeably, almost painfully. He's slamming the keys. The end chords are so powerful and pretty. He's banging them like Gustav bangs his drums.
Lass uns Laufen. Very reverby soft vocal ambiance. You're getting what you hear with this song. The only neat thing was how clearly I heard Bill sing "uber unser fall."
BONUS! I'm one of those awful fans who Bill hates because I downloaded the leaked Humanoid songs before they were ready. Remember they leaked? So now I'm listening to the pre-release demo Pain of Love and Bill pants during the entire song. They took that part out in the official album version. Maybe that's a good thing because it would waste water to have all the fangirls do the laundry to wash their creamed panties. Thanks for thinking of the environment, TH. OMG he's panting in my ear HE'S PANTING IN MY EARS. HE DOES IT DURING THAT QUIET PART SO THAT'S ALL I HEAR -- HIS HEAVY BREATHING IN MY EAR DURING "And we go on and we go on and on and on" right before the final chorus. It's just panting omg. So moving on (I replayed his heavy breathing 4 times) the rest of the song is nothing special.
OK so I'm a music nerd, you guys should know this by now. Or if you didn't, now you do. This is how I spend my Friday nights.
I also listened to Monsoon with my headphones like this. The background vocals were pretty clear. I've never believed Tom sang the background vocals in Monsoon. It's always sounded like Bill to me, and it still does. It's Bill's accent. His and Tom's accents aren't the same. It's just Bill tapping into his deeper fuller voice. I'm going to outline why I believe it's Bill singing.
-Bill does his unique vocal eccentricities like making the ends of his words suddenly pitch up in this little gaspy sound. You know what I'm referring to, right? He does it all the time.
-The "uh" vowel in "running (somewhere new)" is so Bill, it's simply Bill's voice. All the vowel sounds are, actually.
-In "hold (me back from you)," the "h" sound is pitchy, breathy, and uniquely Bill, like he says it in "Hello, the end is near."
-In the "just me and you," "just" is pronounced the funny little way Bill does it, in which (brace yourself -- technical talk) Bill slightly delays the onset of the vowel after producing the "j" sound. And then when he begins voicing the vowel, he eases into it with that scratchy glottal fry voice, sliding ever so recognizably from one voice register (glottal fry) into his normal singing register. He does the delayed vowel/glottal fry in other songs (very noticeably in the live versions of Phantomrider and Zoom).
It's a cute idea that Tom sings background vocals, but I'm sorry to say he doesn't. I'm super familiar with Bill's pronunciation (being a linguistics/phonetics nerd), and the unique timbre of his voice and vowel sounds. He is my favorite, after all -- and I dote on his every word. I've been trained to listen to people's speech and voice, since those kinds of things gonna be my job someday. In conclusion, I'm 100% confident that Bill sings the background vocals in Monsoon.