Porcupine Tree - Closure / Continuation (5.1/Dolby Atmos) 24-Jun-2022

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Heard it through the grapevine PT will be releasing Rats Return as the 4th single this coming Friday, June 17. I remember reading somewhere Herd Culling was supposed to be the final single from the record, but I guess only time will tell.

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This looks fan made to me but is supposedly the cover art for the new single.
 
Heard it through the grapevine PT will be releasing Rats Return as the 4th single this coming Friday, June 17. I remember reading somewhere Herd Culling was supposed to be the final single from the record, but I guess only time will tell.

View attachment 80168
This looks fan made to me but is supposedly the cover art for the new single.

The background image is part of the "Closure/Continuation" artwork, but whether it's actually related to "Rats Return"? I'm not sure yet.
 
Next Monday (20th June), there will be an exclusive world premiere event for our new album Closure / Continuation at Dolby HQ in Soho Square, London. Those present will be the first to listen to the Dolby Atmos version of the album in high resolution audio, and Steven Wilson and Gavin Harrison will also be in attendance for a fan Q&A before the playback. There are only 40 tickets available for this event and they will be decided at random from those who have already purchased and will purchase from the Burning Shed and Townsend Music stores – Link to stores: https://porcupinetree.lnk.to/DolbyPlayback

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Heard it through the grapevine PT will be releasing Rats Return as the 4th single this coming Friday, June 17. I remember reading somewhere Herd Culling was supposed to be the final single from the record, but I guess only time will tell.

View attachment 80168
This looks fan made to me but is supposedly the cover art for the new single.

Just confirmed, that is the cover art for “Rats Return”, streaming at midnight.

:)
 

Interesting his answer about Colin. So, I'm honestly about 99% certain that SW has ADS at a very high functioning level. It's funny to say, "Oh, Colin didn't really stay in touch" when, clearly he did not really try to reconnect with Colin at all. I mean, he clearly has some issues retaining band members (Govan, Minnemanm, Maitland, etc.). It really sounds like it's hard for him to make personal connection with others. I wonder how much his marriage and fatherhood have changed his approach and perhaps, in some way, made this new PT record a possibility.
 
It's funny to say, "Oh, Colin didn't really stay in touch" when, clearly he did not really try to reconnect with Colin at all.
Colin participated in the 2020 In Absentia documentary, so they must have spoken then?

There's probably more to the story there and he was just being polite about it - the first chapter of his book (which covers the period during and after PT's final live performance at the Royal Albert Hall in 2010) mentions some in-fighting between unnamed band members and that SW was told something to the effect of "it's him or me". I'd guess that either Colin or John Wesley is one of the people mentioned in this passage below?

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Colin participated in the 2020 In Absentia documentary, so they must have spoken then?

There's probably more to the story there and he was just being polite about it - the first chapter of his book (which covers the period during and after PT's final live performance at the Royal Albert Hall in 2010) mentions some in-fighting between unnamed band members and that SW was told something to the effect of "it's him or me". I'd guess that either Colin or John Wesley is one of the people mentioned in this passage below?

View attachment 80362

I know he definitely had issues with Wesley as well. Some of the other parts though, he's very straightforward about things, just flat-out saying he didn't really enjoy being on stage with them to their face, and I mean, he doesn't mean wrong by it but it comes off as hurtful clearly. Nothing wrong with it by the way; my son is on the spectrum and every day it's a pretty similar thing, just not completely understanding why people act in certain ways rather than just saying everything they're thinking.
 
“I always felt slightly fraudulent about the idea of being a lead guitar player. And also, I think I felt very strongly that I was the worst member, in terms of technical ability – I was the weakest musician in the band. And yet, I was the one that wrote most of the material, did most of the interviews was the was the focal point of the band. And I’m probably not the first person to feel that. I’m sure many people in bands who are the leader… I mean, you look at someone like Roger Waters, who is clearly the weakest musician in Pink Floyd, my favourite band.”

Well there goes any last chance of SW doing a 5.1 for Roger 😬
 
From the SDE interview with Steven:

"If we get number one record that will be an amazing, amazing thrill. But it really depends on what else comes out that first week if Drake decides to drop his new album that week forget it. I mean, that’s what happened to Tears for Fears, isn’t it?"

Drake dropped his new album today. But it will still be difficult to beat Drake on the second week.
 
I'm just not really feeling it with this album. We've heard 4 (3.5?) of the 7 songs so far (not counting bonus tracks), and yeah, it is Porcupine Tree, but it sounds like the small minority of Porcupine Tree songs that I never really connected with. I'm thinking of some of the latter parts of The Incident, or bonus tracks from Deadwing, basically. Oh well, hopefully the remaining few songs are really good, but I don't foresee that I will be buying this one, as much as I've been listening to this band since I was in high school.
 
Feels like I get so much input and stimuli, I end up skimming and skipping it in an act of self-preservation. Today I have purposefully made time to properly absorb the Gear Talk segments and collect my thoughts about the "singles" issued and the PT/CC project .

First thing I played today was the Rats Return with the official video. Indeed disturbing as at least one member has described it, to me it's trying too hard to push my repulsion buttons rather than support the song. Then I played it again without the video distracting me and it seemed better. What to make of this? So then I decided to go back to the beginning of this campaign with Harridan. Pretty great track? It is a very good track indeed, propelled to further heights in our minds (mine at least) as heralding the return of a much-loved band. So how much is the song and how much is the sentimental component? YMMV, it's certainly good enough to get excited about.

Then we come to Of The Day, someone remarked that it sounded rather like Blackfield. Perhaps, but to me it more closely mines some of the Stupid Dream / Deadwing period. Then when it really rocks out, there is a Signify guitar slash dominating it in a nice way. Sequentially, this fits well after the manic nature of Harridan on the album.

This brings us to Herd Culling - this is my hands down favorite so far. Why? In 3:34 it manages to provide the most successful and complete narrative lyrically and the guitars kicking in section is what has me cranking up the volume every time! The long sprawling tracks are fine of course, but Herd Culling pushes all the right buttons for me in half the time. This got me more excited about the live shows* than anything else I've heard so far. [*only Chicago now; see upcoming shows for my amusing tale of ticket insurance refunds]

This is a very interesting time for Steven Wilson fans; what seemed lost forever has been given back to us in some partially realized form. I think he knows when he's made one to many albums in a given form. That is my feelings for The Incident and The Future Bites respectively. But we are at the beginning of something now that is either a career continuation or a short term flirtation at best. This is a version of Porcupine Tree that contains most of the collective sound we knew, coupled with Steven's fondness for and alternate approach to the bass guitar on these tracks. There are questions lurking:

1. What kind of set list will flatter the new material and satisfy rabid long-time fans?
2. How long will the touring version of this band last? This is the first PT with personnel variations...
3. SW is a married man - can he / will he conjure up some degree of nihilism or is it a rosy outlook these days? [these tracks suggest yes]
4. Will he still be playing live barefoot? [the stage vacuuming solo by roadies was always a special moment]

What we have here is a project that could be a stepping stone to the true return to form if it is within them to continue to that phase. The nature of PT/CC is that it's largely some unfinished music over a ten year period that needed to see the light of day (or night) as performed by this unique set of characters. To be clear, I think by it's known nature, Porcupine Tree is starting back up by giving us a Nil Recurring or 4-1/2 type album as a transition offering for now. Granted it's new to us but it's not so new to them. I'm already thinking about their next album, should they decide to carry on as a band.
 
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