Silent Planet's 'Panic Room' is heavy not only in its music, but also in its themes

L.A.'s Silent Planet have released one hell of a harrowing music video through their new clip for 'Panic Room'.

On July 1st, the band will release their new album, 'Everything Was Sound', through Solid State Records, and you can stream this first single below.

Most bands put the lyrics in the description of their YouTube videos, but few provide explanations or thoughts about the particular song. Not with Silent Planet though, as they've provided some footnotes to explain the ideas behind 'Panic Room', which may annoy some who want to figure it out on their own... however, this clarification helps add emotional weight to the song. Equally, the final footnote reveals the very real and very painful themes of the track, PTSD. "This song was inspired by the testimony of our friend, Jeriel Clark, and is dedicated to every listener who has experienced the horrors of armed conflict. We love you, we are thankful for you" reads a comment from the band.

Damn, that's some heavy stuff, indeed. The video depicts these themes very well (maybe too well?), and is perhaps one of the more intense music videos you will watch in 2016. Check out the lyrics and subsequent footnotes below.

"Lustrous lines obscured by opaque blinds - frozen metacarpals tap tap tap the window glass. Syncopated staccatos with the broken clock synchronized with my post-traumatic ticks ticks - talking to the space in the room that echoes back indiscernibly to my disconnected self/self - it’s self-consuming, what's ensuing is my undoing - the nightly casualty of war. [01]

And it sounds like this: War, endless war.

In my endless dance with entropy I must rescind my sentience, the sickness that I know. [02] Rearrange the disarray of disintegrated senses - puzzle pieces, spectral splinters of a soldier’s worn and tattered soul. In my endless dance with entropy I must rescind my sentience, the sickness that I know.

Machines of air looking down on us [03] - the beasts of dust as we grapple heel and hand, [04] mud and sand, (blood red oil) [05] the chaff of the harvest [06] converted to currencies of wealthy means, stepping stones cut from our perforated bones. Riches are reaped beside our bodies sown just to be thrown back again and forgotten if we stumble in, laid inside a homeless nest, [07] stuck with eager dirty needles, [08] shipped to an early steeple where boxes close, descend with grace as you defend yourself - both charitable and chaste. [09] Praise me for my valor, lay me on a crimson tower - justify my endless terror as my “finest hour.” [10] Treat me as a token to deceive the child whom we fatten for this scapegoat slaughter. [11]

I learned to fight; I learned to kill; I learned to steal; I learned that none of this is real. None of this is real. None of this is real. None of this is real.

But there’s a war inside my head.

Beleaguered by my breathing - choking, screaming, heaving. Time drags me back to the desert. This is war: A child stumbles from the wreckage holding his salvation - the trigger to cessation - to end us all. I took a life that takes mine, every quiet moment we collapse. Have you forsaken us? [12] All the darkness comes alive. [13] Take my hand, drag me to the void. [14][15]"

FOOTNOTES:

01 — Soldiers who have shared post-war experiences with us, especially Jeriel Clark.

02 — Come Wind, Come Weather, A Flood Strong Enough to Consume the House

03 — The Drone Army of The United States.

04 — Genesis 25:26

05 — Michael Klare, Blood and Oil

06 — Isaiah 33:11

07 — Between 1/4 — 1/2 of chronically homeless males in America are veterans.

08 — Aaron Glantz, The War Comes Home

09 — Jerry Falwell and a number of other evangelical voices advocating “pro-war” positions.

10 — Winston Churchill

11 — Leviticus 016:010

12 — Matthew 27:46

13 — Rodney Ascher, The Nightmare

14 — PTSD and related disorders due to combat stress often go overlooked as soldiers reintegrate into general society. Please visit and get involved at: rebootrecovery.com

15 — This song was inspired by the testimony of our friend, Jeriel Clark, and is dedicated to every listener who has experienced the horrors of armed conflict. We love you, we are thankful for you.

If you or anyone you know is suffering from PTSD in any way, know there is help available through avenues such as Beyond Blue, and Sane.org.