Composer Reacts to Porcupine Tree - Russia on Ice (REACTION & ANALYSIS)
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- Опубліковано 14 чер 2024
- Bryan reacts to and talks about his thoughts on Porcupine Tree - Russia on Ice
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0:00 Intro
0:54 Reaction
14:06 Analysis - An Unresolved Slow Burn
19:45 Analysis - A Tale Told Through Music
24:48 Analysis - An Unexpected Chorus
28:12 Analysis - Layered Ending
31:33 Analysis - A Musical Onion
33:02 Analysis - Lyrical Dive
37:30 Outro
#reaction #rock #prog #porcupinetree
A porcupine tree is a real thing if you camp in porcupine habitat. They spend their days asleep up a tree, and come down at night to wander and forage. You don’t want to pitch your tent under a tree that has a resident porcupine. They can get grumpy if you are blocking their way down.
The North American species that is.
Thank you for providing me with an answer to give people who ask me "What the heck is a 'Porcupine Tree'?" 😀
The resolution to some extent comes in the following song the very sad and melancholy ‘Feel so low’ - having destroyed his relationship through drink (Russia on ice) he repeatedly tries to contact his ex partner but gets no answer , the song ‘Feel so low’ which is the last on the album ends with the final painful acceptance that the relationship is futile and over.
I think that there is a sequence in the album as the song before ‘Russia on ice’ - ‘Where would we be’ bemoans the fact that the optimism and expectation of a relationship in youth does not always end up the way you think in the longer term and the one before that is the brilliant ‘Hatesong’ which is a bitter post break up song. Seen in the context of the other songs the theme is fairly clear. (By the way, the vodka on ice is spot on, in the states you have drinks’ on the rocks’ in the UK we have spirits ‘and’ or ‘on’ ice.
This one, Time Flies and Arriving Somewhere But Not Here are my all time favorites from this band, glad to see you came back to good ol' Porcupine Tree! They just returned a while ago after The Incident circa 2009, it's an incredible comeback and really deserves a look into, if you're interested in more stuff from them. The rest of Lightbulb Sun, The Incident, Fear of a Blank Planet and The Sky Moves Sideways are also great albums worth checking on your own. All in all, great reaction and analysis again!
same lazarus is good one too
I think you are right about Russian on ice being Vodka. In the UK we tend not to say on the rocks but ask for ice. The song and the breakdown of a relationship may refer to alcoholism in my opinion.
It's their best album hands down. Every song is a gem.
true man. true
This is right when SW started becoming attracted to nu-metal, which shows up for real on the next album (along with Gavin Harrison.) I personally am more of a fan of the ambient/psych/prog era, but SW is such a production GOAT that even that side of the band's music is amazing. And yes, a lot of PT songs are story-oriented. SW has always been a frustrated filmmaker, so he uses his music to get his penchant for storytelling out of his system. Oh, and SW is very well know for his relatively dark and melancholic songs. He's been heavily influenced by the art films of people like Ingmar Bergman. Also, lack of resolution is sometimes because other songs on the album provide the payoff. He often writes songs to be part of an album continuum, and you get more when you hear the whole thing from front to back.
This is one of my favorite Porcupine Tree songs. Great choice.
Oh damn, that's a great song
There's another project of S. Wilson called Bass Communion, I don't see many people focusing on it, but e.g. Drugged Suite (all 3 parts) is great...
Great reaction and analysis, and I'm stoked to see you listening to Porcupine Tree again! Their early stuff is more psychedelic and ambient than their more famous run of albums (In Absentia and Fear of a Blank Planet in particular) but still excellent at creating a story and soundscape. I also think your interpretation of the lyrics is spot on.
Porcupine Tree is one of my go-to bands for evaluating new speakers, just fabulous production and so... lost-for-words good! A session of Porcupine Tree, some good mead and beer makes you come out the other end a reinvigorated hooman!
That’s a 10/10 on the progometer.
i admire your keen observation, being this songs (and the next ones) particular importance for example to me, it was nice seeing you take in so many details with just one listen. i know that's never the case for me, but then this song does have such space and builds an environment to give you plenty of time to process everything going on. guess in a way im just thanking you for appreciating it the way you seemed to. enjoyed your reaction and review !
Early PT can be pretty "WTF" when you hear it for the first time. Often, some sections can be described as a "ruined orgasm" :D.
So interesting tidbit: this album was released less than a year before Opeth's album, Blackwater Park, which Steven Wilson produced. In interviews around this era (more around their next album, In Absentia), Steven had mentioned that he had always viewed the metal genre as kind of juvenile prior to discovering Opeth. Given the timing, Steven probably was listening to Opeth sometime around when this album was being written or just a bit earlier. I wonder if that might have had any influence on his writing for this.
If you want your mind blown, listen to early Camel, that's been both bands inspiration.
22:15 i call it negative confusion. not because its a bad feeling but because you dont have what to be confused of. positive confusion is worse, when youre overwhelmed by information
What are you confused about? It's not a process but a masterpiece that you just need to let go and experience fully instead of overanalyzing and trying to compartmentalize everything....
It's without a doubt one of their best songs.
As Steven Wilson said on his interview w| Rick Beato (paraphrasing): I've heard Dark Side of the Moon " so many times that it's imprinted in my brain.
And the vibes are present here as well, for my ears.
If you want DSOTM vibes, Glass Arm Shattering is where it's really at.
Damn you really hit the nail on the head with the emotion of the song. There are layers of subtle melancholy, none of which overpower the emotion but allow the song to just float in the beauty of the feeling without being totally weighed down by it. I never would have been able to articulate that because I don't know enough about composition.
Heard a lot PT but not this before. Wow!
I don't think I've heard this band but I've seen their name. I really liked this a lot. Will definitely be checking them out more.
Interesting pick for PT! This was the band after their first period, which was essentially a Steven Wilson solo project and very much obsessed with Pink Floyd-esque neo-psycedelia; but just before their third period (starting with In Absentia) where they started incorporating modern prog metal influences and became arguably the biggest contemporary prog band on the planet. This was really the tail-end of their middle period that included Signify, Stupid Dream, and this album. I've always thought this period was hugely underrated. It was basically the period that was their most Marillion-esque; that moody, bittersweet melancholia with the music mixing pop, prog, and psychedelic elements. I'm not sure if this is the track I would've selected from that period. In general I think Lightbulb Sun is the most uneven album of that period while Stupid Dream is still probably my favorite PT album.
A great live band!.... Live in Tilburg performances are available on youtube.
Please react to Arriving somewhere but not here next! Also, not sure where you take requests or even what your policy is but I’d also like to request Siberian Breaks by MGMT. Thanks!
Immediately feel the pink floyd influence. As he said in the Rick Beato interview. They imprinted into his brain like a micro chip.
Amazing song by my favourite band
It’s been changed to PT!
🤔🤫💙😎
Always reminds me about Camel, just like Opeth does with some of their most popular stuff. I actually think the most popular song by Opeth on Spotify could just as well have been a Camel song, and that's because it was their inspiration, just like Camel is for this band too. If that made any sense... check out Camel. Anything from the albums Camel, Mirage, The Snow Goose or Moonmadness would be good. xD
I am a simple man, I see Porcupine Tree, I click.
Wait, this is the first time you’ve reviewed Porcupine Tree??
Nope. Search and you will find 😊
I've done Anesthesize and Buying New Soul as well as 4 different Steven Wilson tracks (and a couple of his remasters of other bands). :)
"Russia on ice burning a hole" could be burning a hole in his cold soul i.e. the momentary warmth of alcoholic indulgence; or it could mean it is burning a hole in his body i.e. the vodka is damaging his liver and other organs... or it could be both. Steven Wilson's lyrics lend themselves well to multiple figurative meanings and interpretations.
Maybe it's a reference to the drink White Russian?
PC before heavy metal bridges. Like the mars volta, PC is not easy to digest. But you'll find beautiful masterpieces in this band. Also Steven Wilson solo is pretty good 👌
although i make ambient music myself i cant sit through other people's ambient songs
I'm slowly realizing I'm the same. I can appreciate ambient but it's rarely something I'll opt to listen to on my own time. On the other hand, I've been really getting into ambient music. Weird how that works :)
31:50 THE OGRE AMONG US
I've been watching your videos for a while, they are great, but how do you manage to choose the worst or most unpopular songs of every artist?
I just follow where I'm led. 😄
Porcupine Tree (Steven Wilson) don't write songs, they write musical stories. I've listened to this song dozens of times but while watching your video I "got" the story (before hearing your reaction)... the obvious part is that it's about alcoholism. But I see now how the song is progressing: Part 1: The alcoholic indulges in morose introspection and a kind of half-hearted cry for help, but doesn't really want to change. Part 2: the alcoholic indulges in a crazy non-stop drinking spree filled with rage and confusion interspersed with moments of stupor. Part 3 / The End: The alcoholic succumbs to his alcohol addiction and dies (hence the sounds of the graveyard bells). Porcupine Tree / Steven Wilson were never known for happy songs! 😆
Having now listened to your reaction - yes, there is no resolution to this alcoholic's story, sadly, besides death.
Insert "Perfect!" from Street Fighter 2. That's my whole opinion.
Anathema vibes? Where? The vibes you're probably talking about didn't exist yet because albums with such 'vibes' haven't been yet released. Eternity, Alternative 4 or Judgment doesn't contain anything similar.
Yeah, that comment would be anachronistic, basing it on a sound that hadn't happened yet. It reminds me of later Anathema works.
Russia on ice is vodka afaik
its a cactus bro
There's no canon story behind the band name, and Steven likes fueling speculations on things like this. All I can say is that the project started as a hoax band with lots of fake lore, more or less as a parody of/tribute to the '70s prog bands, particularly Pink Floyd. Their first album was pretty nonsensical, so I wouldn't be surprised if it's just two random words from a dictionary.
This track is a b-side, by the way. They literally had no bad track. Absolute masters
Wtf it is not a bside, it’s on the Lightbulb Sun album
@@Lancelot30 Yeah, my bad! :( I mixed it up with Buying New Soul because I like playing those two back to back. Sorry!!
@@shrygguryou’re good lol 👍
Is it just me that thinks the second part of the song is horrible?
Yes, it's just you
Not horrible but not brilliant, like an early works kind of thing. I simply believe Wilson is after a similar thing to his later works (like the lengthy instrumental parts of songs like Ancestral or The Watchmaker) but he learned to do it better and more interesting over time.
yeah its just you
Nope; when I first started listening to this band the abrupt changeovers were disconcerting and I couldn't decide if I liked it or hated it; after more listens and familiarizing myself more with their style I really got into it and now I love their stuff!