View The Review
9 out of 10
Having a passing interest in the world of Porcupine Tree (Steven Wilson’s most well known project among the many strings to his bow) - when this album dropped on my doormat I was suitably intrigued.
This is the first album where Steven has used his own moniker - previous solo works going under the IEM and Bass Communion banners. In all truth - this album being closer to his work in Porcupine Tree the move makes a lot of sense.
But that’s enough padding - if you prefer me to cut to the chase then I shall. This album is incredible from start to finish. That’s all you really need to know. But I shall elaborate...
The first thing you notice on first listen through is how precisely put together it is - it feels like a carefully constructed work of art - layers slide in gently, nothing feels out of place. The production on the whole record is immense. I’ve played the album on a surround sound system, in the car, on my £5 speakers on my pc and none of them detract from the listening experience.
The album starts with its lead "single" - though really this album's not designed for singles - more as a whole piece. Harmony Korine starts us off in familiar territory with its PT-alike start (reminiscent of Fear of A Blank Planet) with slight bits of foreboding beauty cracking through the melancholy nature of the verse finally exploding into a falsetto chorus. Without a step missed.
Follow that up with the trip hop beats of Abandoner, and the slow start of No Twilight (which bursts into the MOST frenetic crescendo and proves stop start slow fast dynamics can work if done right) and you near perfection. Only track I’m not 100% sold on is the title track itself - Insurgentes just falls slightly flat in the main (compared to what came before anyway).
All in all, in my mind one of the albums of the year (even though it was originally released last year but shh).
Fantastic.
Listen: www.myspace.com/therealstevenwilson
Tracklist:
1. Harmony Korine
2. Abandoner
3. Salvaging
4. Veneno Para Las Hadas
5. No Twilight Within The Courts Of The Sun
6. Significant Other
7. Only Child
8. Twilight Coda
9. Get All You Deserve
10. Insurgentes
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