STEVEN WILSON IS A HI-RES MAN OF THE PEOPLE
“I LIKE TO UPSET PEOPLE, because it means I’m doing the right thing.”
And that, my friends, is Steven Wilson for you in a nutshell. The once and future king of surround sound has taken yet another giant creative leap forward with his new solo album, The Future Bites (Arts & Crafts/Caroline), which, after a pandemically induced half-year deferral, was finally released at the end of January 2021. And if its genre-bending aural contents just so happen to ruffle some of those hardline “don’t ever change” expectation feathers that permeate his fanbase flock, that’s totally fine by him.
“My perspective on music is always changing anyway,” Wilson points out. “What I want to do with music is always in a state of flux and evolution, and that’s what keeps me excited. I don’t ever want to make the same record twice. In fact, I hope I never make the same record twice.”
Based on Wilson’s impeccable track record, that statement appears to be a safe bet.
People tend to forget one of his earliest ventures, the much-lauded Porcupine Tree, essentially began as a one-man experimental psychedelic trip before evolving into a powerhouse post-prog collective. Outside of the Tree, Wilson spread his artistic tendrils amongst a number of genre-challenging projects—Bass Communion, Blackfield, I.E.M., No-Man, and Storm Corrosion, to name but a few—and over the course of a solo career now firmly entrenched in its second decade, he stands tall an artist not intent on hanging his hat on any of his past accomplishments.
To that end, moves Wilson’s recorded C.V. into further semi-uncharted. On (ah, you’re getting one of the many underlying meanings of that title!), songs like the ’80s-centric lamentations of “12 Things I Forgot,” the alt-pop consumer indictment-cum-inducement of “Personal Shopper,” and the falsetto-drenched neo-prog soul drizzle of “Man of the People” all reflect the scope of the man’s many musical interests. And not to worry, surround fans—the multiple layers of ’s sonic palette can be thoroughly enjoyed on Blu-ray via Wilson’s envelope-pushing 24-bit/96kHz DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1, LPCM 5.1, and (yes!) Dolby Atmos mixes alike.
