Porcupine Tree - In Absentia

Finally "The Big Wait" is over. And we're not talking about Steve Rothery here. Britain's brightest hope in years have earned them the big fat American deal that was the fruits of the master plan formed when genius Steven Wilson wrote demos in his old bedroom many years ago. Silhobbit proudly take some credit for the band's growth having been there at the start and as a magazine in the early 90's enjoyed releasing two compilation tapes which both included Porcupine Tree tracks Mute and The Joke's on You. That was years ago and the band have become brilliant in their hard effort to be a household name... That time has now come!

The packaging as you'd expect is top-notch, no expense spared. What about the music? If you visit the band's website you'll be familiar with four of the songs, namely Blackest Eyes, Trains, Gravity Eyelids and Strip the Soul.

But let's take them all, track by track.

Blackest Eyes
The opener and in keeping with the openers of the past two CD's. Great heavy riff, then nice chilled out verse. Steve's vocals have come along way and he sounds superb here, this verse is catchy with superb musicianship and once you know the chorus you'll be singing along!

Trains
We tip this as a future single, although we don't see it being a chart hit. Acoustic strumming/vocal intro that leads very nicely into another catchy Stranger by the Minute style classic. Very sing-a-long-to song. It even has a with a wicked drum loop, before ending with a banjo solo.

Lips of Ashes
Starts off all lovely and quiet and dreamy, all about the perils of heroin or something. Lines like Paralyzed lips of ashes, synchronized blue vein crashes, touching, touching you, inside really give the song emotion, and just uses keyboards, guitars and vocals. A great interlude before ..

The Sound of Muzak
Some of you will also have heard this song already, as it was performed live in America recently. This song directly slags off Pete Waterman and millionaire Simon Cawell, who mould young kids into disposable pop superstars covering old tunes, which is something that Porcupine Tree rage against and despise.

Gravity Eyelids
This was probably the first song I heard in advance of the album release. A really class piece of work. The intro begins with haunting choir mellotron and a cool drum loop. Steve's backing vocals are powerful and almost an instrument. Just when you are relaxed all hell breaks loose and we get metal!

Wedding Nails
An instrumental with great playing and plenty of riffs. Personally this is not my cup of tea because there is no nice melody! They may enjoy playing this live thus giving me the chance to buy a beer, have a piss or pull some dolly bird. Poor.

Prodigal
This brings the album back to form. A really classic Porcupine Tree track which will have you all foaming at the mouth. It poses the question, Am I the Progigal Son, or was George?

.3
The song is based around some string keyboard chord progressions. Starts of with some magnificent Colin Edwin bass overlaid with super Richard Barbieri keys, building up into a melodious crescendo. New boy Gavin Harrison tops this off wonderfully, with a totally restrained piece of drumming. This could possibly the best song on the album.

The Creator has a Mastertape
This goes back to the band's psychedelic roots with the metal bits they like. Fans of their 1997 track Dislocated Day will like this. I'll press the 'next' button on my CD player when this song starts!

Heartattack in a Layby
Another contender for the best track on the album. Beautiful piano / vocals and 12 string guitar. Lovely harmonies and a chilled out track. Quite possibly the first use of the Hertfordshire market town Baldock in a song ever. You can get from Baldock to Cambridge in about 30 minutes, but the return journey takes at least an hour during rush-hour! However you can get from Cambridge to Ely (Pink Floyd used the Ely Cathedrial on the cover of their Division Bell album). Bizarrely, you can easily get from Ely to a Norfolk beach where a body was washed up.

Strip the Soul
You may have already heard and seen this one, if you've downloaded the video from the website. Colin Edwin is the best in the business and now commands £1,000 a day as a session bassist. He definitely shows this on the into to this song, which veers towards Nine Inch Nails / Tool territory, with great use of distorted and overlaid vocals.

Collapse the Light into Earth
The final track on the album. This has similarities from the previous album's How is you life Today. Lovely piano in 6/8 time joined by haunting vocal harmonies and exquisite string orchestrations.

So there you have it. The fans have waited 2 years for this and I think that Porcupine Tree has given the fans what they want, although personally it was always difficult to improve on their Lightbulb Son album.

When they come over to England I fear that their live show will make way for the new tracks taking the place of better earlier material such as Up the Downstairs, Radioactive Toy, Russia on Ice and Colourflow in Mind.

The record company have invested huge amounts in the band and need to sell 150,000 copies to make their gamble pay off. All the signs are there to achieve this as Porcupine Tree deliver the goods with this quality album.