I guess you're like me, what could we curse these two years of Covid!! And yet, I've always been told that out of every bad thing comes good. Well, this new 'Porpucine Tree' album is the good thing that might not have seen the light of day without these years of global pandemic. Indeed, the leader of the group 'Steven Wilson' had implied that the confinement had made it possible to rework certain compositions which he had written 7 years earlier with 'Richard Barbieri' without any follow-up at the time. So, after the last album 'Incident' released in 2009 and which hadn't necessarily hit the headlines, is the 2022 'Closure / Continuation' a good vintage?
Might as well tell you right away, 'Porcupine Tree' has not only lost none of its avant-gardism, but the trio's long years as a soloist are certainly a major asset in this latest opus because we really have the impression that they were able to bring about a kind of perfect fusion between their different musical experiences while keeping the progressive spirit of 'Porcupine Tree' because, for my part, apart from the label of 'progressive music ', I could not put any other for this formation completely apart in the musical landscape. The result is therefore an album from the 2020s and not a rehash of 'Porcupine Tree' from the 2000s and I'm not even talking about the impeccable production.
We therefore embark on a dense and intense musical whirlwind which necessarily requires that we linger there to draw all its richness and in which we find a whole heritage of several decades of different styles of music. The sequence of compositions was certainly not made at random because, one has a feeling of being the captain of a boat which navigates alternately in dismounted waters then much calmer which gives an admirable feeling of a succession tension and relaxation. And, within this duality, each composition also brings its share of contrasts brought by structures that are often complex (highlighting an always remarkable playing on the drums of 'Gavin Harrison') but which remain melodically accessible and is perhaps the greatest strength of 'Porcupine Tree' to reconcile density, complexity, and accessibility. And as you will have understood, I will not launch into title by title because dissecting each composition at a certain moment makes no sense: to take only the first two titles, depending on the time of listening, I will certainly be more sensitive to 'Harridan' (see video above) and its communicative ardor and, at another time, 'Of The New Day' (see video here) will be more beneficial for escaping me, for a moment, by letting the music gently insinuate itself into my spirit.
In summary, if I am asked to define the music in 2022 of 'Porcupine Tree', I will simply say that it is a kind of musical marker of our time which merges and crystallizes all the musical currents of music rock of the last 50 years. And finally, to choose, in 'Closure / Continuation', I definitely opt for 'Continuation'... | |
