Author: Peter Podbrežnik
Artist: Wilson, Steven
Label: Kscope
Released: 2016
Runtime: 37:07
Rating: 4/5
Toward the end of January 2016, Steven Wilson released a mini album titled »4 ½«, featuring tracks recorded while he was putting together his previous two studio albums, »Hand. Cannot. Erase« (2015) and »The Raven That Refused To Sing (And Other Short Stories)« (2013). With the title of this EP, Steven let his followers know it’s a stopgap between »Hand. Cannot. Erase« and the upcoming studio album. It’s not the first time he’s put out an EP ahead of his next full-length, but some fans have surely exchanged glances, wondering whether dropping new (or so far unreleased) music this often is really a good idea. Overproduction can quickly turn into a double-edged sword, after all. Well, for now Steven’s drive isn’t hurting him one bit, even though this project doesn’t bring any especially innovative experiments compared to his recent body of work. On the other hand, every track here is up to the quality of the material that made it onto those two albums. Of course, he’s backed by a top-notch band led by Nick Beggs, Guthrie Govan, Marco Minnemann, Dave Kilminster, Theo Travis and Chad Wackerman, while the maestro, as usual, shines on vocals, guitar and additional keyboards.
The opening track, »My Book of Regrets«, with its psychedelic-melancholic pulse and a fairly unusual, almost alt-rock chorus, shows off Steven’s exceptional ear for building melodic arrangements full of symphonic prog rock and jazz rock fusion touches. The instrumental »Year of the Plague« is a ‘forgotten’ track from the »The Raven That Refused to Sing« era that blends perfectly, stylistically, with the dark, mysterious and melancholic atmosphere of that unforgettable album. »Happiness III«, with its optimistic chorus, is another melodic highlight of this EP, and Steven once again shows off his vocal versatility. The abrupt ending, which is pretty unusual for Wilson, leaves you with a feeling of unfinished business.
Steeped in indescribable melancholy, »Sunday Rain Sets In« is a gorgeous instrumental with subtle arrangements and poignant harmonies on piano, guitar and flute. Near the end there’s an unexpected, very brief jump into a punchy section before everything wraps up with a flute improvisation. The next instrumental, »Vermillioncore«, is a proper jazz-rock/prog-metal improvisational explosion with irritable guitar variations. It’ll thrill everyone who likes Mr. Wilson best at his most experimental, as well as those who usually swear by the heavier sounds and are desperately longing for Porcupine Tree to return to the scene. Right at the end comes a newly recorded version of the »Stupid Dream« (1999) standard »Don’t Hate Me«, which Wilson re-sang in a live duet with Israeli singer Ninet Tayeb. She already worked well with Steven on »Hand. Cannot. Erase«, so it’s no surprise that this duet turns out wonderfully too, though the original version is still convincingly better.
The workaholic patron saint of modern prog rock isn’t slowing down. With »4 ½«, his fans will definitely have a much easier time waiting for the maestro’s next studio album. Some fans’ fear that Steven would start ‘commercializing’ himself too much, after the grumbling that followed the release of the ‘best of’ album »Transcience« (2015), is surely overblown. We saw the same thing with Porcupine Tree, when after the unexpected commercial success of »Deadwing« (2005) some feared the brilliant singer, multi-instrumentalist, producer and sound engineer would at some point ‘sell out’. But (at least for now) money isn’t his priority, so there’s no need to worry about the quality of his music in the future.
Lineup
Steven Wilson – guitar, lead vocals, autoharp, mellotron, piano, percussion, virtual instruments
Adam Holzman – Wurlitzer, Hammond organ, Minimoog, Rhodes, piano
Dave Kilminster – guitar (tracks 1 and 6)
Guthrie Govan – guitar (3)
Nick Beggs – bass guitar, Chapman Stick, backing vocals
Craig Blundell – drums (1, 5 and 6)
Marco Minnemann – drums (3)
Chad Wackerman – drums (4)
Theo Travis – woodwinds (4 and 6)
Ninet Tayeb – vocals (6)
Production
Steven Wilson
Tracklist
1. My Book of Regrets (9:36)
2. Year of the Plague (4:19)
3. Happiness III (4:32)
4. Sunday Rain Sets In (3:55)
5. Vermillioncore (5:14)
6. Don’t Hate Me (9:35)
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