Author: Aleš Podbrežnik
Artist: Blackfield
Label: K-Scope Records
Release: 2017
Running time: 44:01
Rating: 4/5
The Blackfield project is back with a new studio album. Behind it stand (still) Israeli musician Aviv Geffen and four-time Grammy nominee Steven Wilson, who not long ago, after Porcupine Tree broke up, launched an enormously successful solo career. Wilson is best known today as pretty much the one true guru of progressive rock on the scene, keeping the genre in touch with the pioneering days when bands at the turn of the sixties into the seventies basically founded it. Geffen, on the other hand, is a lesser-known name outside Israel. He sits on the jury of the Israeli version of the talent show »The Voice«, and has spent most of his career in pop music, playing in front of U2 and Placebo and working with producers like Tony Visconti and Trevor Horn.
The future of this project was hanging by a thread, since Steven Wilson had only recently decided to step out of the collaboration with Geffen. Geffen could have carried on completely alone, which the third and especially the fourth studio albums increasingly hinted at, with less and less musical kinship to Wilson’s way of arranging and composing. But right before work on the new album was due to begin, Wilson changed his mind. What’s more, »Blackfield V«, recorded at multiple locations along the Israel-Britain axis, can boast that for three tracks, at a studio owned by Trevor Horn, Wilson and Geffen were joined by probably the greatest sound guru in rock’n’roll history to date, the venerable Alan Parsons himself.
So the musical substance of »Blackfield V« once again flirts noticeably with what we got to enjoy on the project’s first two albums. Steven Wilson’s renewed commitment brings the new album’s compositions back toward musical elements you can compare, in style and sound, mostly to the later work of Procupine Tree and, of course, Wilson’s solo career. That means someone might label this album a bit superficially, saying it’s more progressive again, though that tag is pretty thankless in comparative terms and in the case of this project. »Blackfield V« once again steers through a musical substance that’s an incredibly unique blend of alternative rock, pop and elements that lean toward something that could have been progressive rock, but where the arrangement groundwork for it stays rationally »restrained« here. Inside the bosom of safe pop-rock songwriting.
So. First and foremost, this is an album devoted to keeping up a contagious musicality, one that works instantly in tightly formatted arrangements and creeps under the listener’s skin. It carries a teasing note of strongly vibrant moods, and the project manages to work in some gripping atmospheres of mysticism and longing, while the already familiar and well-tested sense of bittersweet melancholy is, once again, all over the songs.
The songs this time touch on journeys. Along the Israel – Britain axis. In between, of course, lies the Atlantic Ocean, the link between the two continents where the two musicians are stretched out. Geffen contributed the poetry, and it sums up life stories from the eighteen-month stretch in which this album came together. So Geffen is the storyteller, but these tales are closely tied to the emotions of the experiences he is constantly exposed to as a musical artist. In other words, it’s about transferring those feelings into the format of musical composition, where the poetry is supposed to leave the best expressive imprint. The idea isn’t new, so the lyrics are often mildly pathetic. A longing for the home and the family you’ve been pushed away from for the sake of making new music. The only contact with them is the ocean. That dose of pathos may put some people off this album, but it’s been present on every Blackfield album, so it’s simply a fact you have to make your peace with somehow.
Wilson and Geffen nailed the essence. They’ve once again produced an exceptionally beautiful and polished piece of music that is, not just in terms of arrangement but also of sound production, a true textbook of musical composition. The sonic landscape of every composition is filled out with great skill. Geffen reigns with his distinctive vocals, occasionally joined in duets by the unmistakable, signature voice of Wilson. The dynamic development of the moods they create is outstanding. The duo thought of every little detail. At the right moments the songs are also adorned with symphonic elements. The vocal harmonies are gripping again once you get hit by the power of the distinctly melodic chorus hooks. You’ll find the highlights yourself this time. There are no dips in quality. That means there are no compositional slip-ups on the album, and no tracks you could call playing-time »fillers« (needless padding). That said, »Blackfield V« is an album you absolutely have to listen to »in one piece«. That is, from the first second to the last, with no breaks in between. Only then will it touch you with its full effect.
Compared with the project’s previous four albums, »Blackfield V« is by far the most mature album of the Geffen-Wilson collaboration and the most defined in its inspiration. In terms of sheer expressive yield, it’s also certainly the strongest album by both musicians to date. A new »bittersweet« art rock album with a one-of-a-kind musical track record.
Blackfield – Family Man / Sorrys / How Was Your Ride?
Lineup
Steven Wilson – vocals, guitar, keyboards, backing vocals
Aviv Geffen – vocals, guitar, keyboards, backing vocals
Eran Mitelman – bass guitar
Tomer Z – drums
Production
Steven Wilson, Aviv Geffen & Alan Parsons
Tracklist
1. A Drop in the Ocean
2. Family Man
3. How Was Your Ride?
4. Will Never Be Apart
5.Sorrys
6. Life is an Ocean
7. Lately
8. October
9. The Jackal
10. Salt Water
11. Undercover Heart
12. Lonely Soul
13. From 44 to 48
