Steven Wilson - To the Bone

Angry Metal Guy

The solo works of Steven Wilson were in ascendancy by 2012’s accomplished The Raven that Refused to Sing, a musically morose but sonically warm homage to 70s prog rock which drew me in with its Fripp-isms and ensnared me in its powerfully emotive web. 2015 saw the decidedly harsher tone of Hand. Cannot. Erase., which similarly impressed me with its engrossing tale of obliteration with more modern tools. The prospect of a sequel named To the Bone surely had a number of AMG writers all hot and bothered. His production has always been top-notch while his music is constantly developing, promising at least that it would stand apart from prior albums to offer something fresh.

If I may adjust your expectations from the start, do not enter expecting a prog purists’ album. Just as HCE took ideas from Raven but is plainly separate, To the Bone is clearly written by the same hand but adopts new influences to forge a different experience. The release of the record’s singles, notably “Pariah” and “Permanating,” was nearly drowned out by cries that Wilson had betrayed his roots by writing pop music. It’s true: there is significantly upbeat, happy material here, with simple hooks which are likely to appeal to those who would not have bothered with him before. Those aforementioned examples are immediately engaging and feature chorus lyrics and melodies which you’ll know by your second listen. He persistently promised that such tracks would fit the entire record upon its full release – this is largely true so fear not if their joviality was initially perturbing. Wilson’s unique brand of melancholic prog still features though is saved for select moments. It ultimately pleases me that he refuses to stand still.

That sombre atmosphere on which Wilson has built his name is certainly prevalent by the conclusion of To the Bone. The back-half is slower and more introspective, representing quite the contrast from the front. While “People who Eat Darkness” boasts the most metal moment in its heavy lead riff, “Song of I” retains some of the earlier catchiness but broods. If I have a complaint, it’s that the final 3 tracks drag the album to a halt as they’re all slow burners. This bunching does none of them any favors as they bleed into one another. “Detonation” is mostly dull as it reaches over 9 minutes through simple repetition, while “Song of Unborn” particularly suffers as it’s a strong song but feels too close to neighbors stylistically. It’s better when taken alone which defeats the purpose of a complete album.

Nonetheless, it’s no surprise that each component part of To the Bone‘s sound sounds immaculate, from Ninet Tayeb’s incredible vocal additions to the strolling bass-lines provided by Robin Mullarkey, Nick Beggs and Wilson himself. This extends to the production, which is to the same high standard to which we are now acclimatized. That bass guitar warmly wanders in and out of the surrounding leads and the tones used are always pleasing. “Pariah” and “Permanating” are bright, vibrant and omit the dreadful brick-walling hampering most modern pop, while each instrument remains crystal-clear even in the deceptively subtle backing layers permeating the densest arrangement towards the end of “Detonation.”

I believe the net result of Wilson’s foray into pop influences is favorably comparable with the likes of Kate Bush and David Bowie. While sounding like neither, he tackles tougher topics than an average, modern chart hit and fuses a compelling musical depth with his undeniable hooks. This website caters to metalheads but making it past the disturbing poppy surface reveals superior instrumentation and compositions to flesh out a satisfying record. To the Bone proves progressive music need not solely rely on 70s rock; nay, it should not.

Rating: 3.5/5.0
DR: 10 | Format Reviewed: 320 kbps MP3
Label: Caroline International
Websites: stevenwilsonhq.com/sw | facebook.com/stevenwilson
Releases worldwide: August 18th, 2017

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The Quietus

Everything is cyclical. The contentious matter of progressive rock, for example, resurfaces every few years as a nagging speck in the public’s eye. Countless think-pieces and counter-pieces are written, offering undeserved derision, hate or fervent defences while the genre continues to march solemnly, undisturbed and oblivious. Steven Wilson’s latest full-length arrives just in time for one such episode - spurred on by David Weigel’s book The Show That Never Ends: The Rise and Fall of Prog Rock - yet it’s those stable and immutable inner sanctums of prog rock, not the mainstream’s perception, that it threatens the most.

Never shying away from experimentation and eclecticism, To The Bone marks Wilson’s most intense stylistic departure as he reaches towards sumptuous pop vibes tinged with retro tones. Inevitably, it becomes characterised by what it isn’t rather than by what it is. Seen as an affront and betrayal of prog rock’s ‘trueness’ by one of the genre’s savants, To The Bone exposes and splinters insular communities and their ideas of elitism. But by observing the album through this prism alone, its real nature is obscured - that of a flawed and powerless homage.

While Wilson’s work as a musician and producer, solo or in Porcupine Tree, has always been ingrained with pop music sensibilities, To The Bone exaggerates this aspect until it explodes into a contrived exercise in style. The music, often reduced to a mimicry of 80s progressive and art pop tropes - from Peter Gabriel to Tears For Fears to Kate Bush - clumsily coexists with complex themes. A sophistic invocation about ‘truth’ introduces the first cut, ‘To The Bone’, a lethargic song, and becomes a blueprint for the rest of the tracks. Burning social issues like refugee rights and religious extremism are explored from a privileged position, only to be enveloped in a pristinely preserved musical framework within which pop loses its transformative potential.

This edgeless approach is underlined by the warm, lush production that tries to recreate the fondly and wrongly remembered organic sound of old records. Occasionally, during the album’s more inspired moments like the sparse ballad ‘Blank Tapes’, Wilson goes beyond pure pastiche as his recognisable, visceral songwriting emerges. It’s those moments that reveal glimpses of the intimacy, conceptual coherence and deeply felt emotions that made his previous effort Hand. Cannot. Erase. as excellent as it was. In comparison, To The Bone fails in its attempt at grandeur.

The few standout tunes, such as the aggressive and dark ‘People Who Eat Darkness’, similarly feel successful because of their narrower scope, while ‘Detonation’, a heavier, riff-driven epic that deals with the subject of suicide bombers, never lives up to similar compositions from Wilson’s earlier records. Ironically, the song that will surely be most controversial among his fans, ‘Permanating’, is a self-contained, resounding success, a fun, light romp clearly and proudly influenced by the likes of ABBA and Electric Light Orchestra. To The Bone would have been a better album if it had completely embraced this sort of levity.

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Drowned In Sound 40

Over the course of his 30-year career to date, Wilson has proved himself consistently flexible. Porcupine Tree veered between classic prog, post-Radiohead art rock, metal, and even (occasionally) pop, with ease. That’s without mentioning the trip hop leanings of early No-Man (probably the most underrated band of the last 25 years), in collaboration with Tim Bowness, or the alt-rock of Blackfield, alongside Israeli superstar Aviv Geffen. He’s also produced a raft of superb experimental records under the Bass Communion and I.E.M. monikers.

Pariah (Official Video) by Steven Wilson & Ninet Tayeb on VEVO.

All these strands began to fuse together once Wilson began his solo career, which kicked off with the brilliant pair of Insurgentes (2008) and Grace for Drowning (2011). These records truly spanned the depths of Wilson’s musical personality, and stand as peaks in his long career. The Raven That Refused to Sing (2013) and Hand. Cannot. Erase. (2015) were quickly held up by the media as contemporary prog classics. Even if neither of the latter two records quite clicked for me, it would be foolish to dispute that all four of these albums emphasised Wilson’s songwriting strengths. Each contained hints that – one day soon – Wilson might leave the orthodox conception of 'prog' behind, in favour of the world of pop. To the Bone is that day arriving. It has been billed as Wilson’s 'hat-tip to the hugely ambitious progressive pop records of his youth' (Gabriel, Talk Talk, and Tears for Fears are mentioned explicitly in the press release). Unfortunately, however, To the Bone works neither as a prog record nor as a pop record… and it certainly doesn’t combine the two notions in a way that is anything to get excited about.

The reference points that the press release notes are immediately apparent upon the record’s opening, which has the fingerprints of Gabriel in particular all over it. There’s also a clear Bowie influence, which remains present throughout. What there’s very little of is a sense of personality, a theme that continues as the album moves forward. ‘Nowhere Now’ is more reminiscent of a forgotten mid-2000s Coldplay album track than anything else. ‘The Same Asylum as Before’ has a spectacularly catchy hook, but suffers from a painful (and deeply ill-judged) falsetto vocal performance. ‘Permanating’ sounds a little like A-Ha attempting to cover 'Mamma Mia' in the style of The Beatles (unfortunately it’s not as good as that sounds). Two tracks later the record reaches a true low point, with the awful post-grunge nonsense of ‘People Who Eat Darkness’ (featuring some of the worst lyrics Wilson will ever write).

That’s not to say there aren’t any highs. There are hints of Wilson’s songwriting strength peppered throughout. ‘Pariah’ makes the most of the excellent vocal support of Ninet Tayeb (who also featured prominently on Wilson’s last LP). ‘Refuge’ slots nicely into the middle of the record. ‘Song of I’ is an interesting take on latter day Massive Attack, even if its lyrics don’t quite convince, whilst ‘Song of Unborn’ is a serviceable enough closing track. As a whole, however, the album is just a mess. Its cherry picking from the various most accessible ends of Wilson’s musical spectrum isn’t progressive, it’s just stylistically indecisive. The album still feels like a rock record, but the guitar-led tracks are uniformly less interesting than those that largely focus more on keyboards or electronics (and even these tracks tend to feature unnecessary guitar solos or full band crescendos).

Despite its occasional high points, then, To the Bone feels rudderless and – at its worst – idealess, especially over its hour-long running time. This record may showcase adeptly Wilson’s love for 'progressive pop', but it also demonstrates a surprising lack of nous for putting an album together based on this concept. One can only speculate, but ultimately the impression given is that Wilson has focused more on the idea of writing a pop record than on actually delivering the goods. There are hooks here, but they are scattered and often attached to tracks that come worryingly close to mediocre exercises in MOR. I remain convinced that Steven Wilson is capable of producing a great pop album, but this sure as hell isn’t it.