Wilson posted an interesting quote on Twitter regarding his new solo album:
"Myself and Ninet Tayeb recently recorded a new song together for my work in progress next album The Harmony Codex, to be released in 2023. In the meantime here’s a reminder of us in the studio in 2017 recording ‘Pariah’, with one of those incredible spine tingling Ninet moments!"
https://twitter.com/StevenWilsonHQ/s...28783033118720
Ninet is phenomenal. We were at the Beacon show when she "heroically" (to quote Rolling Stone) took over lead vocals from SW due to his illness.
I was there too. Great show and very unique.Originally Posted by rickawakeman
I love Ninet's contributions to his previous albums, so I'm happy to see she's back in the mix.
I saw the TBT tour, but unfortunately not one of the shows where Ninet was present.
I was reading an article online somewhere that described the new album as a 54 minute conceptual rock epic. I think I can get onboard with that.
This is interesting. A concept album based on an SF short story with at least one song featuring Ninet seems very promising. I couldn't get into the short story on which its based in his autobiography, and I am a frequent reader of SF. I may have been in the wrong frame of mind at the time. I'll try again.
That said, I'm optimistic about the direction of this new album.
Ninet's solo albums are pretty good too.
This popped up in my FB feed:
https://www.loudersound.com/news/ste...lbum-next-year
He uses terms like "epic and uncompromising" and "complex and unpredictable" but then states it will fall somewhere between TFB and H.C.E.
Sounds interesting but this is coming from a guy who once announced he was going to infuse jazz elements into his next recording (Grace For Drowning) and then didn't. So we'll see. I like HCE. TFB, for all it's hyped ambition, came across as an attempt at a Gotye album, meaning that it wasn't terribly original or adventurous. It did at least usher in a new PT album.
He said one song on GFD was going to feature jazz elements ("Raider II"), not the whole album.
"what's better, peanut butter or g-sharp minor?"
- Sturgeon's Lawyer, 2021
Parts of "Raider II" sound pretty jazzy to me in a Crimson sort of way.
What do you consider "jazz elements"?
Jazzy stuff. I'm no musician. I made a similar statement about 8 or 9 years ago and I'm sure musician and muso alike can attest to the (very) subtle jazz elements in GFD and The Raven but to me they sounded like everything else Wilson had been involved in.
Both David Bowie and David Byrne had made similar statements about music they were working on (Blackstar and Love This Giant respectively). Both works instantly evoke "jazz". Might have been naive of me to expect something overtly 'jazz' because someone used the word 'jazz' but like I said, I'm not a musician, just an end user.
Raven-Wilson's album after Grace- had oodles of jazz elements. Maybe Wilson's jazz ideas migrated from Grace to Raven?
Nic France (a jazz drummer) is the main drummer on GfD. I always thought that Remainder The Black Dog had some jazzy elements to it (in addition to Raider II) and France's drums had a lot to do with that impression for me.
If I try hard I can hear subtle jazz elements but they're still subtle. Wilson's solo albums up through Raven weren't a drastic departure from his last two or three PT albums (up to that point). Comparatively speaking. PT's albums from On The Sunday of Life thru In Absentia were all very different from one another.
This is one reason I've never understood why SW only thinks PT plays a very specific style (i.e. the In Absentia through The Incident sound), which he even states in more recent interviews. And I agree - I think PT has shown over it's lifespan that it can sound like anything the band wants it to - OTSOL sounds very different than Voyage 34, which sounds very different than Stupid Dream, which sounds very different than Fear of a Blank Planet.
So at least in my mind, I don't understand why he limits PT today to a specific sound, and uses the rest of his songwriting for other outlets. I used to think it was because he didn't like the members of PT any longer (save Harrison, who he continued to make music with). But since they continued working on the most recent PT album starting way back in 2012, that's clearly not true either.
I must have missed post-2010 Wilson/Harrison collaborations, doesn't ring any bells to me. Gavin did play a couple of songs at a SW concert at the Royal Albert Hall a few years ago.
I thought there was more, but he did play on the Storm Corrosion album (2012). For some reason the Insurgentes album seems to me like it's post-PT, and he was also on that. But that came out in '09, just prior to The Incident. So I guess there's just one instance on record of them playing together post PT.
Agreed, I suppose the latter day sound was the one that gave them a commercial breakthrough but my PT fave period is The Sky Moves Sideways to In Absentia. I am not a huge fan of FOABP so I wish they would explore some of the older PT sounds again.
I too love the earlier period, but I extend through to Stupid Dream, Lightbulb Sun and most of In Absentia. After then it was a little hit or miss for me, I'm not huge on metallic guitars, though I did love Blackest Eyes.
I don't know how to process this comment. Grace for Drowning sounds to me pretty distinct from prior solo work and certainly so from Porcupine Tree. But I guess we all come with different ears and focus on different aspects of the music. I wouldn't call Grace jazz, but it has jazzy elements, certainly compared to his prior output.
Where Are They Now? Yes news: http://www.bondegezou.co.uk/wh_now.htm
Blogdegezou, the accompanying blog: http://bondegezou.blogspot.com/
Grace For Drowning seems to be hardly mentioned lately but it remains my favourite album of his and the Blu Ray of the tour Get All You Deserve is quite brilliant too.
I'm with you! It's also one of the best shows I've ever seen. This is easily the SW solo album I go to the most.
"Who would have thought a whale would be so heavy?" - Moe Sizlak
According to the recent Beato interview with Stephen, don't expect a progressive rock album.
What can this strange device be? When I touch it, it brings forth a sound (2112)
True. From what he says, don't expect another The Future Bites, either. I'm more excited about this one, personally.
Neil
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