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Matrix Sentinel polychord (E(1 ♭3 ♯11 5 7)): guitar chord

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The Matrix, 1999 · Don Davis · nearest shape for the hand

Famous

E(1 ♭3 ♯11 5 7)

Em(maj7)(♯11) Standard

6 strings

FamousThe Matrix1999 · Don Davis

Two chords at once: E♭ major over E minor

Cue 4m3 “Switch Woks Her Boar” (Heckman's spelling), m.1–3 (0:58:57–0:59:02): the Nebuchadnezzar flies at full speed to hide from the Sentinels.

The horns pound out E minor in fast repeated notes while the flutes and trumpets answer above with E flat major, and the two groups keep swelling against each other. The triads share only one note, G, so they grind: it is the same half-step clash of a major and a minor triad as Herrmann's famous Vertigo chord. Don Davis uses it for the chase as the Nebuchadnezzar runs from the Sentinels.

Also called Sentinel, minimalist polychord swells

Sources: Christopher James Heckman, Taking the Red Pill (UCLA PhD dissertation, 2018), pp. 60–61 (PDF pp. 82–83), Example 4-2a · Cue By Cue: The Matrix (Davis, 1999)