Something for Thursday

I’ve been a bit heavy on the orchestral stuff of late, and I imagine I’ll continue in that vein as the year goes by; I seem to be in a real mode of rediscovery of my love of orchestral music. But that doesn’t mean I won’t mix in other genres on occasion, such as today, when we have a bit of prog rock. I’m sure it comes as no surprise that I enjoy prog rock, although I don’t have nearly as much of it in my collection as you might think. I do respond to the long-form music, the dramatic gestures, and the focus on poetry and sheer scale in prog rock. Pop tunes are nice, but I love to lose myself in a good prog rock album.

Such an album is Steven Wilson’s The Raven Who Refused To Sing, which came out last year. Wilson is the lead singer of a group called Porcupine Tree, but he also has a vivid solo career, and this album is a part of that. It’s a stunner of an album, grabbing right from the very beginning with a couple of percussive guitar riffs before settling into the album’s epic first track, which is quite the epic track indeed: by turns fast and driving, slow and meditative, hard-rocking and jazz inspired. This sets the tone for the album’s hour-long running time, which is as cohesive and coherent a rock album experience as I’ve heard in years. I can’t recommend this album highly enough.

Here’s “Luminol”, the first track from The Raven That Refused To Sing.