Porcupine Tree – In Absentia

Rock music was that neighborhood bad boy that parents told their kids to stay away from, he is free in all the ways that you are not, he rebels, he questions and he does't give a damn what you think of him. There was however a spark in that boy, there was something appealing in that unbridled freedom, his aura spreads like a plague, in came The Beatles and The Rolling Stones and things started getting real. Beatlemania happened, John Lennon claimed "We're more popular than Jesus", Jim Morrison became a cult figure and Jimi Hendrix literally lit the guitar on fire. The concerned parents were still not impressed, they had better things to hear like classical music, jazz etc, to them rock music does't have that artistic depth and the novelty of distorted guitars and power chords were fading like water drops on a pyre. The bad boy's hair was combed, his nails got trimmed and he was dressed well enough to take a selfie with her highness Elizabeth II, they called this civilized and cultured boy progressive rock.          

Progressive rock as the name suggests is progressive, forward thinking and pretentious, a ten minute song is completely normal and epic concepts and instrumental proficiency is almost mandatory. I have this theory regarding a small cereal called oats, oats is tasteless and boring on it's own however you can add stuffs like fruits, nuts, honey, milk to it make it one of the best known meals ever. Progressive rock is exactly the same thing, add psychedelia to it and you will get Pink Floyd, add classical music and jazz you get King Crimson, add some darkness to it you get Comus or in the modern scheme of things, add death metal to it you get Opeth, alternate rock you get Tool, djent and funny time signatures you will get Leprous and Caligula's Horse. 

So where does Porcupine Tree fit in?, well thats a tough question. In the late 1980s two youths Steven Wilson and Malcom Stocks decided to form a fictional band called Porcupine Tree (I tried to do the same with the name Elnaz, but thats a different story for a different day) they wrote back stories to the band, the 1970s rockstar life in every detail. They went even further, they made actual music for Porcupine Tree, Steven Wilson took the matters serious and eventually he released On the Sunday of Life... under Porcupine Tree moniker. That album was released during the time when Pink Floyd started to see their carrier's dusk and for almost three albums Porcupine Tree was almost a Pink Floyd substitute. Things took a new turn with the album Stupid Dream, the songs where more 'pop' for a progressive rock album but still layered and orchestrated or in Steven Wilson's words "Vertically Complex", a few years later the stars aligned, the zeitgeist of extreme metal dawned upon the new prince of prog rock. Steven met Mikael Åkerfeldt and produced the Opeth masterpiece Blackwater Park, he became fascinated by the Norwegian black metal scene and the Swedish behemoths Meshuggah. This metal influence crept into the sound of Porcupine Tree and In Absentia followed.

         Steven Wilson 

One thing remains the same however, the music is almost always sad and melancholic and In Absentia is no different, the songs discusses themes like serial killers, criticism of modern world and causes that make people lose empathy. This album has probably the most well known Porcupine Tree song Trains, the song was my introduction to the band and I still don't fully understand the lyrics but it seems they are about nostalgia, about time slipping aways like a train ("Always the summers slipping away / find me a way for making it stay"). The Opeth influence is all apparent on the opening song Blackest Eyes, that main riff could have been on Ghost Reveries, the song explores adolescence and how it changes a boy ("A mother sings a lullaby to a child / sometime in the future the boy goes wild / and all his nerves feeling some kind of energy"), the song epitomize the album's sound perfectly, it's heavy, catchy and it has plenty of hooks. Lips of Ashes sounds like Steven Wilson's No-Man side project especially the album Together We're Stranger, the song is devoid of any percussion instruments but it's densely layered and psychedelic with an evocative guitar solo. 

The album do get a bit technical on the song The Sound of Muzak, the verse is in an odd 7/4 and the time signature changes to the standard 4/4 on the chorus but what impressed me most are the lyrics, they are critical of the present music industry, on how 'one of the wonders of the world' came down. 

"Now the sound of music 

comes in silver pills

engineered to suit you

building cheaper thrills

The music of rebellion

makes you wanna rage

but it's made by millionaires

nearly twice your age"

Those lines perfectly captures the zeitgeist of the 21st century popular music and the lyrics explores some sexual fantasizing in the next song Gravity Eyelids. I was taken aback by the lyrics at first, it's not something that you expect from a band with an image like Porcupine Tree, the atmosphere is tense and the vocals are intimate, Steven Wilson go almost Jeff Buckley on this. The whole tense build up is resolved in an another Opethian riff, Gravity Eyelids is my second favorite song of the album and my first is an odd choice to be honest.

Heartattack in a Layby is really a sad song, I discovered this song in one of my darkest days and whenever I hear that opening riff, I cannot help but think about those times passed. The lyrics are bare and simple and the song is all the more effective for it and when Steven sings "Don't feel too good" it is one of those shiver down the spine moments. I wonder if there is any other song lyrics that resonated with me more than these three lines

"If I close my eyes 

and fell asleep in this layby

would it all subside ?"

All the 12 songs of this album are great on its own as well as on the context of the album, but I cannot review all of them especially after writing about the most emotional part of the album. A part of the success of this new direction of the band its their drummer Gavin Harrison, he is easily one of the best progressive rock drummers around and he really has a great sense of groove. He is technical enough to play anything that Steven throws at him and his flair and skill elevates it to an another level. Like every Steven Wilson production, the album sounds perfect, it's polished and serves the music well, he is one of the best producers around and if he is involved, a great sounding record is guaranteed.

In Absentia is one of the few records that I own in a physical form with all of my other purchases being digital, I had to spent quite a fortune for it as it had to be imported but it's worth every penny. It is one of the best record I've heard and the album is widely considered as the band's greatest work. Porcupine Tree went on to make three more records in the similar vein, each one more expansive than the previous.

The band ultimately quit with Steven Wilson focusing on his solo project, his solo efforts are more progressive than his former band and Hand. Cannot. Erase is one of the greatest concept albums ever made. I do not miss Porcupine Tree however, there is this Polish band Riverside that comes close to their sound and Wilson's solo output I feel is more adventurous than what Porcupine Tree can ever be, he is no longer limited by his former band's legacy.   

The modern progressive rock scene has bands like Gazpacho, Riverside, Haken, Leprous and Opeth keeping flame alive but Steven Wilson is the one that ushered that flame into the 21st century and he continues to do so to this day.

             

LINKS FOR YOUR ENLIGHTMENT

Progressive Rock   Porcupine Tree   Pink Floyd   Steven Wilson

Jeff Buckley   Riverside   No-Man