What happens when the music and lyrics to a song give out conflicting messages? The singer songwriter Marjana Semkina told Jeremy Allen in the July 2024 issue of Prog magazine that she likes writing songs, such as ‘The Storm’ from her new album Sirin, which sound hopeful but have lyrics that are the complete opposite,
“I do like a juxtaposition and I think it contrasts really well in art. If there’s darkness, the light will shine brighter”
Semkina said one of the bands that most influenced her to write in this style is the prog rock band Porcupine Tree, and the songwriting of band leader Steven Wilson. She said ‘Drown With Me’ by Porcupine Tree is, ‘an exceptionally happy-sounding song about someone who’s drowning.’ On the TV Tropes website, the effect on the listener is described as ‘lyrical dissonance’, presumably referencing on the psychological theory of cognitive dissonance.
‘Drown With Me’ has an interesting history. In 2020, Steven Wilson told Lasse Hoile that he thought the song was going to be ‘one of the highlights’ of the Porcupine Tree album In Absentia (2002). He replaced it with ‘Prodigal’ which he said, ‘is one of the weaker songs’, although he stressed this was his personal opinion and others might disagree. The reason for the substitution was that he felt ‘Prodigal’ was a better recording, although he regretted the decision later.
‘Drown With Me’ is a gorgeous, upbeat song in which the music contrasts sharply with the lyrics. The song takes one of the themes of In Absentia, the world of serial killers and murderers. The protagonist’s plan is to drown the song’s addressee and her family. As in ‘Blackest Eyes’, the first track on In Absentia, the victim is enticed into the killer’s violent world. Compare ‘Swim with me into your blackest eyes’ with ‘You should drown with me’. Both songs feature rich, multi-layered backing vocals in the chorus, which help to disguise the grim message.
Although it was available on a special edition of the album released on DVD in 2003, the song remained relatively hidden for years. Fortunately, when Porcupine Tree released the deluxe edition of In Absentia in 2020 the track finally appeared on streaming services in a remastered version. Live versions are also available on the live album/DVD Closure/Continuation.Live. released in December 2023, and Atlanta, released in June 2010.
Sources
Allen, J. A Light in the Darkness (Prog magazine, July 2024)
Hoile, L. The Making of In Absentia (Documentary film from In Absentia deluxe edition 2020)
Parts of the above article are adapted from Porcupine Tree On Track (Sonicbond 2021) by Nick Holmes
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