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The Essential Steven Wilson – Part I

This is the first part from a small series of articles on Steven Wilson's different musical personae. The idea of writing a succession of texts on a single artist may at first seem a little "idolatrious", but as soon as one realizes the amount of musical substance that stems from Wilson's long career, it becomes evident that every possible synopsis will always fall short. Steven Wilson is mostly known for his work as the frontman of Porcupine Tree, one of the most influential bands in the current progressive rock scene. But Porcupine Tree hasn't always been the reference point in Wilson-land. Actually, it was No-man that first gave him some notoriety...

The opening sequence of "Together we're stranger" is one of these pieces of music that make me shiver - there's such a hypnotic component, such a beautiful melancholy, the way soundscapes interweave and progress, from pure noise to concrete, almost casual sounds... No-man is perhaps the most unpredictable among Wilson's projects, and that has certainly something to do with the fact that there he shares the frontmanship with Tim Bowness, long time friend and collaborator. Their sound ranges from "art-pop" to trip-hop, frequently including minimalistic/ambient elements (the opening sequence of "Together we are stranger" is itself actually borrowed from drone-oriented Bass Communion, another of Wilson's projects). Even if I'm not particularly in love with Bowness's voice (which sometimes seems a bit too fragile, flimsy), I can't deny that No-man has proved to be one of the best companies for a rainy autumn afternoon. On the other hand, if you're definitely not into slow, melancholic ballads or sluggish cinematic trip-hop beats... maybe you won't enjoy it that much.

Most No-man fans I know (and that's... me) agree that their masterpiece is the 2003 album "Together we're stranger", an organic, minutely composed sound stream were clarinet and voice conduct a sorrowful dialog on human relationships as they go through their last stages. If such chunks of life could be translated to sound through some kind of obscure synesthetic process, I'm sure the sound that would come out of it wouldn't differ very much from the record. I've already mentioned the title track, an experimental piece that seems to have evolved from Bass Communion's "Drugged" (or was it the other way round? The dates seem to suggest the first, though), and "Things I want to tell you" remains in the same line, incorporating some minimalistic acoustic guitar elements instead of the hypnotic organ, but the same ethereal backdrop. Actually, this almost psychedelic setting remains throughout most of the album, like a cosmic background slowly decaying into absolute zero. "The Break-up for real" seems as assertive as it reads - a drier but no less harmonious track, that brings the album to an end, hanging from the top of an echoing piano suspensive cadenza.

Their latest album, "Schoolyard Ghosts" mixes a new "orchestral" component ("Truenorth"), with some heavier rock sounds ("Pigeon Drummer") and the usual "black&white photograph" ballads ("All sweet things", "Beautiful things you should know")... without being their masterpiece, it manages to be a pleasant record to listen to, highly emotional, sometimes violent, but still sober and consistent.

I'm perfectly aware that No-man themselves would be enough for a series of articles of their own - I'm neglecting classic albums like "Wild Opera" and "Returning Jesus", and I know die-hard fans won't forgive me for that. However, there's still much Wilson to talk about, and I don't want to get too lost in the way.