BEAUTIFULLY TRANSFORMATIVE // Porter Robinson - dullscythe // Composer Reaction & Analysis

[@sarahwills4975]

Never thought i’d see a Porter Robinson song here! would like to give some context to this song and the album it’s off. might be a bit rambly as i am a big porter fan lol Porter Robinson actually comes from an EDM background. he started off making Brostep type stuff coming from the same type of scene that Skrillex did. he released an album in 2014 called “Worlds” which kinda flipped the EDM scene on its head a lil bit at the time it released. many people would still consider it to be a masterpiece (i don’t myself but i do think it’s a fun album). After touring that album Porter fell into a deep creative struggle and for many years he was having difficulty with making any music to point where he felt like he wasn’t going to ever make music ever again. it wouldn’t be until 2021 where his next album “Nurture” would be released which this song is off. The album is hugely about that struggle and many other things that were going on in his personal life. this track’s a bit of different one sonically in the tracklist as it’s a lot more experimental and glitchy compared to many other tracklist that lean into a EDM/Synthpop sound but i think it makes sense in context of the album. I think the “song that sounds like it’s trying to make itself” interpretation makes a lot of sense when you know that much of this album comes from that creative struggle Porter was going through for the seven years it took to make this album. also Porter said on twitter once that the first half of dullscythe has no tempo. just thought it’d be cool to share

[@seanp9915]

Me and my girlfriend went to see Porter on my birthday last year when he was touring this album. Gotta say, what a phenomenal show, the music was amazing and heartfelt and the visuals throughout were just so good! It was awesome

[@gabriusv]

When I first heard this song, I very much disliked it. Borderline hated it. 2 years later, it's one of my favorites. It makes me cry. I've been through a lot, recently. The beginning of the song feels like I'm watching my life fall apart. ...But in the end, I've made it through. The rest of the album takes on the same journey. It's a beautiful album.

[@peacelovemetal5197]

Yo what Didn't expect someone to request a review of this style of music from you! This was my album club pick a WHIIILE ago haha

[@CriticalReactions]

That makes a lot of sense given your love of high fidelity sound and production.

[@Makhwax]

Pls make a video for wind tempos

[@slyrarejam]

Oh wow never thought I'd see a song reaction for dullscythe this is so cool! This song is definitely about his creative rut and emotional lows that he went through for years after releasing his Worlds album in 2014. I think the critical acclaim and the cult following that that album gained after its release put him in a really difficult position while making Nurture (the album this song is in). As a song itself, it's not my top favorite. His songs are grandiose and euphoric and nostalgic, and this song is not that. However, I respect it a lot for making a very palpable audio equivalent of struggling to find an inspiration as an artist, and I never skip it when I'm listening to the album. I'm interested to know if Porter made a full song and chopped it up to be the glitchy version that we hear now, or this is how it's originated and just left it at that. Either way, I think it's really cool, and definitely one of his more experimental tracks for sure.

[@n8wolf575]

love your videos, been grinding them. my suggestion would be Furia. generally they are polish black metal, but they sometimes have like 5 genres in 1 album, or in one song. FURIA - Marzannie, Krolowej Polski would be a first introduction, even though its their third album from 2012, i think you would enjoy it alot (blew my mind first time) its really diverse, in that genre all the speed/pace changes are insane. one time i listened to the whole discography in one go and after i was a different human being. greetings from germany. sorry for my weird english and/or missspelled words

[@buddlybear]

You might enjoy listening to Teragraph by Professor Kliq. Fun and jazzy instrumentation/electronic with some predictable moments but I've found it to be absolutely euphoric over the years

[@muskett00]

The flipping panning made me nauseous at the start, but I appreciated the creativity and growth of the music

[@fardanx]

I see it as something that was becoming but didn't fit until he found the it in the end

[@DiiNovensiles]

actually, as a biologist,

[@jonathanhenderson9422]

I enjoy some of the ideas here, but I'm not sure I love the structure of having the "glitchy" aspect being so prominent for song long. I would've preferred it more as an intro or a spice rather than something that becomes the major theme/idea. Still, I dig the "vibe" of this (for lack of a better word). EDIT: the two pronunciations of scythe are indeed referring to the same tool (technical term in linguistics is it's a heterophone).

[@CycleOfJudges]

I like this song, but in my opinion there is a MUCH better version from the same album called Wind Tempos. It doesnt really fall into the feeling or intention of "finding itself" necessarily. The song itself is complete and simply builds and evolves to an emotion that i cant describe but genuinely makes me cry. (which is reminds me of the evemmn BETTER version lol, called Sea Of Voices from the previous album. I could spend way to long talking about how much these trio of songs mean. But its an interesting thought that, since you started at my least favorite of them, i would be absolutely ecstatic if you went on to check those other 2 songs. Of course there are other amazing songs (Fellow Feeling has an extremely intense emotional back and forth about the beauty of life versus the horrible ugliness.) But if you continue with Porter I'd be interested to see how you think and progress through these 3 songs specifically

[@gustavmetal]

I check the channel to know artists I've never heard before; I guess I'll sit this one out, still interesting to listen to something I'd normally would not listen to, this was just not my cup of tea, felt like if modern art had sound...

[@overbeb]

You should try out the rest of the album. This particular track is much more experimental and out there than the rest. It’s a very beautiful and heartfelt project with great lyrics.