What does it sound like?:
The last time I reviewed anything for the Afterword was Wilson’s The Harmony Codex and whilst my thoughts on it were overall very positive it’s subsequently gone on to be one of my favourite Steven Wilson albums, second only to Hand. Cannot. Erase. There’s a huge variety of musical influences and landscapes on that album occasionally dipping into the more straightforward stuff from To The Bone or The Future Bites but largely it’s the more left-field music on that album which pulls me to it and it’s one that I’ve returned to regularly over the last 18 months.
The Overview has been heralded as a return to Prog roots for Wilson (or derided as being neither one thing or the other depending on what other reviews you pay attention to) but the truth is that this album, once you get past it being 2 lengthy single tracks, is much more of an evolution of THC rather than an about turn or diversion
The theme. (If it’s Prog, there has to be one!) Is the effect on individuals who go into space of seeing the earth from that perspective. Apparently, this generally hits people in one of two ways – they realise how fantastic the Earth is or they realise how minute the earth and all its inhabitants with their problems are compared to the vastness of space. Lyrically, the album weighs up both these viewpoints (with some help from Andy Partridge on the “Objects: Meanwhile” section) comparing the vastness of space via some spoken word additions and the minutia of daily life. Partridge’s lyrics address current day issues such as the acceptance of lies and tie minor lives with cosmic changes – a recurrent theme on THC as well (it’s also something Partridge has touched on before – We’re All Light from Wasp Star springs to mind).
Objects Outlive Us contains much of what makes Wilson unique musically and the playing and arrangements, including most of his regular collaborators, are impeccable as you’d expect moving (almost) seamlessly between ethereal spaciness, hard-edged guitars and more traditional vocal sections. As he’s proven many times before, Wilson also writes a mean melody, even if it’s sandwiched in the middle of a 23 minute track.
Track 2, The Overview, immediately positions the scope far away from earthly routines and has more electronic elements, in fact that’s how it starts. It’s not chalk and cheese versus track 1 but the arrangements are suited to the broader feel of infinitesimal space as opposed to the first track’s focus and its ending leaves us floating in the black vastness. In fact both tracks end in similar ways but with different feels one descending, one uplifting.
Is it Prog? It has fast bits, slow bits, heavier bits, recurring musical passages and motifs, some funny time signatures and a theme so I suppose it is, but don’t let that put you off (the press release even suggested listening on headphones!). The streaming versions have the addition of the “sections” split as individual tracks but I don’t recommend listening that way (I can’t imagine Wilson endorsed that) as you really need the whole of each track to fully appreciate these pieces. As you’d expect from a SW album, the guitar parts are top class from Randy McStine and Niko Tsonev and there’s a lot of interesting sounds and atmospheres to make repeated listening a joy.
I was hoping to get the review posted on release day but the GLW sprang a last minute sprog (no pun intended) visit on me and “I can’t go, I’m reviewing the new Steven Wilson album” wasn’t going to cut it (she’s never heard of him, btw!). That delay, however, has given me time to listen to this even more and it’s cemented my view that this is right up there with my favourite stuff of his. The Atmos Blu-ray landed while I was away as well and having listened to that now (and the Atmos version on streaming services) those enhance the album even more. Wilson’s own Atmos mix is as good as you’d expect if you’re a fan of his Atmos mixes for other people.
What does it all *mean*?
The big question. Take your pick
Goes well with…
The only thing I haven’t managed is to see it with the accompanying film by regular collaborator Miles Skarin. If, like me, you’ve already missed one of its showings in a few selected cinemas (still a few days left to see it in Chile by the look of it) it’s current available to stream via something called Veeps, which has apps for iOS, Android and some streaming boxes.
Release Date:
Out Now
Might suit people who like…
Other Steven Wilson stuff. May not change change your mind if you’ve been unconvinced before, but then you were wrong then as well.
Sorry, just seen that the film is no longer on Veeps (or anywhere else, it seems) at the moment. Maybe because the upcoming tour will feature it to accompany the music.
I really liked it. I would. It’s true to the better ideal and forms of the musical style used here, compared to the melodically weak latter-day Yes albums, or the over-busy metal of Dream Theatre which would justify a newbie thinking prog is a bit weak. the SW album has lots of bits I want to hear again, and I’m kicking myself I didn’t get a ticket to see him in Birmingham this May.
Return to prog? Not only will it not put me off, it will actively encourage me to hear this!
I’m a big fan of SW and went to London to see the album premiere at the IMAX which was the film with the album followed by the man himself and some space experts being interviewed. It was an interesting experience although they talked about space a lot whereas I’d have preferred them to discuss the making of the album!
I’ve played the album about 10 times now. It is quite diverse – some of it sounds like Vangelis – and some of it could have been off his first few Floyd influenced albums – stylistically it is probably closest to his last album THC, which I wasn’t wild about. Like Ainsley my favourite of his is HCE and this is nothing like it and definitely not as good as far as I’m concerned. But it is better than THC and TFB so he’s going in the right direction. Knowing him he’ll completely change direction again with the next record. I’m looking forward to seeing him live again at the Palladium in May.
I got my signed cd copy whilst I was on hols but have managed to give it a good few listens via Spotty during long train journeys through the Alps (worked really well as a soundtrack). Been comparing notes with @Twang and we both, on first listen, were less than enthused. However I was reminded of when I’d buy albums back in the 70s with zero knowledge of the music or in some cases even the artist. However having paid hard earned cash you were pretty much determined to persevere and quite often the music started to emerge and make sense. I found the same true of this one. As stated in the excellent review from @Ainsley this album touches a lot of the bases from past releases especially on Objects. The title track though I found to be the more cohesive and musically more interesting and forward thinking. The musicianship as ever is astounding with some beautifully wrought guitar work and some lovely Fender Rhodes piano. Best of all it’s only 43 minutes long which is just perfect for any album. SW always puts a lot of care and attention to detail in his work – yes he can be a bit nerdy and over serious but he has been without doubt one of the most interesting artists of the last few decades.
Agreed, Feedback.. The “signature” is a joke though. Two squiggles more like. Having paid extra for a signed preorder copy which actually appeared two days before it was on Spotify for free you’d have thought he could at least be arsed to write “Steven Wilson” FFS.