Porcupine Tree captain Steven Wilson's ode to history's propensity to repeat itself seems like one of the most straightforward tunes off one of his most straightforward solo albums, To The Bone. It's got a steady 4/4 beat, conventional verse/chorus structure and plain old fashioned guitar riffs. I had no idea what I was really signing up for when choosing to cover this song.
A close examination of just the original's instrumental elements reveals a cavern of layers upon layers of sound. It was challenging to decipher how SW layered the rhythm guitars and string sections, so the Gothik Serpent interpretation required more experimentation than usual to achieve the same level of textural detail. And then we get to the vocal harmonies during the choruses, which are outright impossible to unpack due to their density. The recording of these harmonies thus involved singing parts that often sounded atonal by themselves, but when fused together, produced a much richer sound from more typical harmonizing parts.
Other important details I paid special attention to include the ascending bass line during the chorus, the weird distorted effect during the breakdown (achieved by wildly strumming the guitar with an analog ring modulator and loads of distortion), and including the organ solo that Adam Holzman plays in the live rendition of this song.
Kerwin Tsang - Vocals, Guitar, Bass, Drums, Synthesizers, Mixing, Mastering, Video
Olivia Jean Kong - Vocals
Angel Wang - Camera
Gothik Serpent: gothikserpent....
26 авг 2024
