Because Steven Wilson is a modern-day renaissance man, it’s not easy to pinpoint his next move. It doesn’t help that his fanbase is segmented into various factions. Some only know him from his multi-track mixing and therefore only care about the next SW audio makeover. Musically speaking, you have longtime Porcupine Tree fans, whose standards are less defined, yet more passionate than recent Porcupine Tree fans. Wilson’s solo work is deliberately pushed around into all sorts of directions, with bits of prog, metal, electronica, pop, rock, and folk thrown in. Having such an amalgamation at his disposal, it’s no wonder Wilson brushed The Overview, his eighth solo album, with a broad stroke and an equal measure of all of the above.
Wilson’s heavy, somber prog 2012 album The Raven That Refused To Sing left a lot of fans wandering the streets with open questions about what the singer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist was capable of next. Wilson came back with a different answer each time. 2015’s Hand. Cannot. Erase. serves as more than worthy follow-up, whereas 2017’s To The Bone and 2021’s The Future Bites left more than a few from the flock scratching their heads. For 2023, Wilson pivoted to more streamline, economic prog approach on The Harmony Codex. That carries over nicely to The Overview, a two-song opus with a wide range of tempos, frequencies, and ideas.
In general, there’s a steady collage of space-filled textures, percussive flips and pockets, harmony, melody, foreboding lyrics, and occasional computerized recitations from Wilson’s wife, Rotem. It’s all handily recorded and stitched together, sonically sweetened to keep you on the edge of their seat, Best to have headphones wrapped around your skull — or better yet, place yourself in the sweet spot of a high-end sound system enhanced with 5.1 surround and Dolby Atmos capabilities.
“Objects Outlive Us,” the first half, starts off ominously enough as “No Monkey’s Paw” before an ascending piano riff opens up “The Buddha Of The Modern Age” with a civics lesson dressed in a three-part harmony. “Objects Meanwhile,” with lyrics by Andy Partridge of XTC, is the first of the album’s true standalones with a tender melody and gracious tone that takes a short gritty turn at the break before returning to the woeful tale of how, indeed, certain objects carry on as each of us scurry about in the art of living. “The Cicerones Ark” and “Cosmic Sons Of Toil” add exotic flares as Russell Holzman’s drumming and Randy McStine’s guitars, aligned with Wilson’s spread of keys, bass, and guitars, add doses of the flavor of prog many feel Wilson turned away from since The Raven. “No Ghost On The Moor” and “Heat Death Of The Universe” bookend the piece on a somewhat sad, atonal note. In response, you may feel a sudden urge to curse and kick the nearest household appliance.
“The Overview” ramps up the mood, beginning with “Perspective,” a barrage of sound designs and spoken-word star constellations that is best experienced and appreciated in an immersive environment. It serves as a gateway for the “Beautiful Infinity” and “Borrowed Atoms” suite, a simple chord progression steaming with musicality and subtle superfluities — a riddle wrapped in a Beatlesque mystery inside a Floydian enigma. It packs enough power to drive any able-bodied music aficionado to the brink of emotion.
It melts into “Infinity Measured In Moments,” careening down a stratospheric river, replete with Adam Holzman’s dizzying Moog, another dipper of star constellations, and the wind down into “Permanance.” Wilson, playing a scant bit keys, is joined by saxophonist Theo Travis. Together, it’s as if they are finishing up the last session before calling it a wrap.
The Overview heeds the call for everything there is to love about the music of Steven Wilson. It may take a few rounds to fully comprehend its course and destination. Once you make the commitment, absorbing the music with songs as pure driven as Wilson’s masterful “Lazarus” and “Postcard,” you begin to appreciate its accessibility as much as its musical and technical muscle. There are those who will speculate where Steven Wilson can possibly go after an album like this. Most likely, he’s one step ahead, concocting another step up the progressive music ladder that even he isn’t sure will hit the mark. Such is the result of experimentation on a level few mortals could ever dream of attaining.
~ Shawn Perry
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