Steven Wilson - To The Bone review
Band: | Steven Wilson |
Album: | To The Bone |
Style: | Progressive rock |
Release date: | August 18, 2017 |
A review by: | Ivor |
01. To The Bone
02. Nowhere Now
03. Pariah
04. The Same Asylum As Before
05. Refuge
06. Permanating
07. Blank Tapes
08. People Who Eat Darkness
09. Song Of I
10. Detonation
11. Song Of Unborn
This is not a good album, and not just taken at face value. However, this is a Steven Wilson album. Given that, you could expect me to go on a long-winded argument with a favourable conclusion, praise and a cherry on top. Here's the deal, though. It's just not a good album. For all sorts of reasons. While there's more to it than meets the ear, in the end the pieces just don't fit together.
If there is anybody in the progressive rock music scene who could do their fans over and stick to their own agenda, walk away expecting those still interested to follow, it would be Steven Wilson. He's not the only or the first one but he's got the right outlook on life for that kind of castling. Scaling the heights of the chosen musical path with The Raven That Refused To Sing (And Other Stories) and Hand. Cannot. Erase., there was bound to come a change of sorts. I don't think anybody wanted it to result in what is basically a pop album, albeit a good and masterfully produced pop album.
When I listened to the album for the first time, I was torn. It sounds terrible, but it sounds fantastic. Read that again. I didn't enjoy the music but I loved the sound. I didn't like or think much of the outcome but I was pleased with the bits and pieces that make up the album. It's a bit of an oxymoron, this album. It's a pop album that feels, well, just wrong. It's what a pop album is not supposed to be. It's also what a prog album is not supposed to be. It's like an itch you can't scratch.
I might have listened to the album again on the next day as well but I essentially shelved it for about a month or so... Until recently, until I watched the recording documentary, and then the itch started again. Just the abundance of detail and the attention to it is mind-boggling. There are layers and layers of it. There's Ninet Tayeb, there's harmonica, and bongo drums, but then there's electronica, and Wilson's falsetto vocals. There's an enjoyable elemental complexity to the songs but they come out sounding simple and bland on the surface.
Worst of all, like poppy songs so often do, they get stuck in my head. Not the songs themselves as a whole but all the bits and pieces of the structural complexity. I want to like this album but I can't see myself liking it. I like this album but I can't feel myself liking it. The dichotomy of it is driving me nuts. Wilson does what Wilson wants. I respect that. I admire that. And despite everything he's made me listen to this album time and again. I still can't say it's a good album but I can say I'm still interested in what he comes up with next.
|
Written on 09.11.2017 by
I shoot people. Sometimes, I also write about it. And one day I'm going to start a band. We're going to be playing pun-rock. |
Rating:
8.6
8.6
Rating: 8.6 |
First of all, let me congratulate Steven on his first top 3 spot on the UK charts, losing only to Ed Sheeran and Elvis. Just give your songs a bit of a "pop" feeling and there you go! This man continues to impress me with each new release, although his 4 1/2 EP wasn't that convincing (a good piece of music, nevertheless). A massively different approach to songwriting this time: just play "Permanating" - who could expect such a joyful song from the so-called "king of sad songs"?:And Porcupine Tree fans are going to love the obvious musical resemblance on songs like "Same Asylum As Before" and "Detonation". Read more ›› |
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