Description
In the early years Steven Wilson’s band, Porcupine Tree, were often compared to Pink Floyd and Steven himself admitted the importance of that musical influence although he later distanced himself from the Floyd, moving towards a more distinctive sound. It is not surprising that he came to be regarded as a new hero in the genre of Progressive Rock, even though again he has often tried to distance himself from that label.
Steven announced a while ago that he would be working with producer David Kosten, who makes dance music and electronica under the name Faultline, which suggested that another change in direction was coming. Steven doesn’t like standing still or repeating himself musically, which means that over his very long and varied career he has written music which could be defined as, at various times…psychedelia, space rock, trip-hop, jazz fusion, progressive rock, progressive metal, pop, ambient, art rock, alternative rock, pop rock, drone music and trance. The theme that unites Steven’s music in all these different styles is his searching musical intelligence, a gift for melody, the willingness to innovate even at the risk of alienating some of his fans, and the ability to write songs that sound sophisticated yet familiar. Like the film director Stanley Kubrick, one of Steven’s cultural heroes, he likes each piece of work to be different from anything else he has produced.
He has spent the last few years collecting vintage keyboards, which he has now installed in his new studio, and he has based most of the songs on the new album around these keyboards rather than around the guitars that feature heavily in most of his music to date.
