Structuring subjectivity: Pain of Salvation’s The Perfect Element: Part I (2000)

Abstract

This article examines how Pain of Salvation’s album The Perfect Element: Part I (2000) develops narrative subjectivity through a range of compositional and performative parameters. We reveal a myriad of ways in which the music contributes to the expression of human subjectivity and offers significant moments of interpretive clarity. Attending to the expressive aspects of music, we focus in particular on how the song structures are articulated through the following elements: formal, harmonic, temporal, thematic and textural/timbral content. Contextualizing the concept album narrative within the genres of progressive rock and heavy metal and offering a framework for analysis derived from narrative theory, we interpret how the musical parameters convey the song lyrics and overall album concept. Pain of Salvation’s narrative of human trauma emerges through musical structures that are channelled to shape storyworld and subjectivity. Presenting analytic snapshots of the twelve album tracks, our aim is to create a sense of analytic ‘immersion’, whereby the reader engages actively with the multifaceted expressive content of words and music.