(Remember Mount Rushmore!) It's a small streak of glue, yet it holds the antic chase together and it allows for the voices of a subtle string trio -- Grant, Eva Marie Saint and James Mason -- which is as fine as the one from "Notorious".
Another mentions the "Three Psalms" setting, where "inner rhythms are underscored by the subtle string ostinatos pulsing beneath".
Its music is characterized by low-key beats, sparse production, subtle string flourishes, mellow piano work, and subdued soul music loops.
The sparse songs bloom into audacious, shambling melodies, Matt Barrick's clickety-clack percussion adding a quirky charm to the melancholy, funeral brass and subtle strings which flutter throughout.
Brimful of skittering, light-headed charm, with sleek but subtle strings buoying the riffing guitars, it sets just the right mood of elevated optimism, one continued elsewhere in lines such as "the sun will rise, even if you don't happen to be there".
Saadiq sings with a reserved delivery on the Philly soul-styled "Oh Girl", which features subtle strings, a slow sitar riff, and crooning harmonies.
Its varying soundscape incorporates electronic effects such as clicks, hisses, whooshes, and low-frequency synths, as well as subtle strings and scattered piano notes.
When Goldman's bankers arrived at Groupon's Chicago headquarters, also last January, their entrance was not subtle: a string of black limos pulled up, carrying the chief executive, Lloyd C. Blankfein, and his team, including George Lee, co-head of the firm's global technology, media and telecom group.
Elsewhere, his caress of a voice rides subtle samba strings on Latin American cabaret versions of "Perfidia" and "Roma Nun Fa' La Stupida Stasera", and copes manfully with duets with Jennifer Lopez, Nelly Furtado and Edith Piaf, the latter's extracted chorus mingling less than congruently with his on "La Vie en Rose".
Many of them were further distinguished by Antonio Carlos Jobim, who composed the melodies of "Chega de Saudade" and "Corcovado," among others, as well as the subtle brass-and-strings arrangements on some of the early music.
But "Vaelv," a coda to the track "The Living Layer," provided Mr. Fundal with a brief, plush showcase, and Ms. Mazzoli's inventive ear was evident in her fine details: a subtle layering of strings in "Black Summer"; pinwheeling vibraphone in "So," an unreleased ballad with the airy languor of late-model Roxy Music.
