Steven Wilson has announced his ninth solo studio album, Requiem for a Village, due out November 6th via Fiction Records. The Porcupine Tree frontman has also released the title track as its lead single along with an accompanying performance video.
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“Requiem for a Village” is a heavily groove-driven prog track. The backbone is a very King Crimson guitar riff paired against a drum part that alternates between IDM-influenced ghost note-heavy busy grooves and more accented heavy hits. Around this, additional guitars and synths have a field day, providing washes of color and glitchy effects, countermelodies and almost funky pocket. That tight focus on a solid propulsive groove makes its constant and frequent twists and turns thrilling rather than frustrating as the piece builds up and tears down layers in unpredictable ways.
David Tennant provides narration for the album, which is set in a village beyond time and space. Wilson is accompanied by XTC’s Andy Partridge, who penned the narration and some lyrics, as well as multi-instrumentalist Randy McStine, Caroline Polachek’s current drummer Russell Holzman, and vocalist Katherine Priddy.
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Wilson said of his upcoming album, “I wanted to get back to a kind of music where you can hear the metaphorical thumbprints. Doubling down on the human gestures and flaws in the music, stuff that can’t be created using software. For example, using only analogue synths with all their unpredictability, or not having instruments perfectly in tune. But it also led to me picking up the violin, the oboe, or trying my hand on the drums – playing things I don’t really know how to play but getting something out of them that inspired me in ways I didn’t expect. Approaching the music with a sense of innocence and seeing where it took me. And where it took me was to the village.”
Watch the performance video for “Requiem for a Village” and see the Black Sabbath-inspired artwork and tracklist for the album below.
Requiem for a Village Artwork:
Requiem for a Village Tracklist:
01. Swirl In A Lark’s Eye
02. Requiem For A Village
03. The Same River Twice
04. Now Departing
05. Hiraeth
06. On Chapel Slope
07. Murmuration
08. Curcus Fingerprint
09. A Basket Of Bees
10. Great Green Map
11. Wheel
12. The Old God Is Buried