Steven Wilson releases his eighth studio album, The Overview, on Fiction Records on March 14th 2025. Two tracks, 42 minutes, wildly ambitious and brilliantly audacious in equal measure, the album features endlessly engaging conceptual lyrics that move seamlessly between the cosmic and the quotidian, set to genre-defying, ultra melodic music… it promises to be an utterly unique release in 2025. The Overview will be accompanied by an album length animated film made by regular Steven Wilson collaborator Miles Skarin (Crystal Spotlight). The film promises to be as ambitious in scale as the record itself and will be screened ahead of The Overview’s release. The album sees Steven return to the genre that made him famous - progressive rock - although his 21st century version hugely updates the classic musical palette to incorporate everything from glistening electronics to monumental post rock, a feat that brings it right into the beating heart of the 21st century. Each of the tracks on The Overview see Wilson draw on different aspects of his three decade plus career. There are nods to the expansive, sky-bound sound of classic Porcupine Tree records, the world building storytelling of The Raven That Refused To Sing as well as the forward thinking electronics of his most recent solo releases (The Future Bites and The Harmony Codex). The overall effect is a sound and vision that’s both resolutely singular to this release and yet instantly, recognisably Steven Wilson. The tracks Objects Outlive Us (including a movement with lyrics by Andy Partridge) and The Overview are each made up of distinctive musical sections that flow from one to the other to play as their own continuous pieces. Headphones and a wide open mind recommended. Steven Wilson on The Overview “The Overview is a 42 minute long journey based on the reported “overview effect”, whereby astronauts seeing the earth from space undergo a transformative cognitive shift, most often experiencing an overwhelming appreciation and perception of beauty, and an increased sense of connection to other people and the Earth as a whole. However not all experiences are positive, some seeing the Earth truly for what it is, insignificant and lost in the vastness of space, and the human race as a troubled species. The music attempts to portray the sheer magnitude of space and our place in it. The idea is to not to represent space as the cosy place portrayed in most science-fiction, but for what it is - something beyond our understanding, a place of anti-life, vast, cold and black. As a reflection of that, the album presents images and stories of life on earth, both good and bad.”The Overview was written, produced and mixed by Steven Wilson at home, Dec 2023 - August 2024. Lyrics on Objects: Meanwhile written by Andy Partridge.
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