Review Summary: Pop goes the corn, pop goes the bubble wrap, pop goes Steven Wilson
Steven Wilson lost two of his role models in three months time, David Bowie and Prince. His view of what makes a true artist was deeply affected by their style and career choices. When I saw him on May 2016 he took a moment to talk about what he was taught: first comes sincerity in expressing himself and drawing his own lines, indifferent to others' opinions or desires. It came as no surprise to me when he announced his next album would stray from his typical sound. It's moments like these, losing childhood heroes, that make one reconsider and reflect upon their choices. Steven Wilson always flirted with pop and it's ignorance claiming the opposite, but never did he embrace it as completely as he did with
To The Bone.
What becomes apparent with his latest offering is how focused it is to the man behind the music. By leaving his long-time home K-Scope and signing a new deal with a major company, all lights were turned on him. His image comes to the center of our attention: distinctive vibrant photographs, gros plans, Q&A Sessions, confusing amount of pre-released singles, marketing techniques, (even) more instrumental responsibilities, accepting music platforms - suddenly the persona of the
international pop star he joked about more than a decade ago didn't seem so unreal. The artist has no clothes, to paraphrase Andersen, but the result is in no way fake. It's an honest vision that couldn't be postponed anymore.
In search for a core motif, I see the album is built around the idea of Dualism. Right from the beginning, by simply watching the colors on the album cover, we see the contrast of hot red and icy blue, almost equal in quantity, but in no way battling one another. Continuing on that idea, there's Steven Wilson with more duets than ever: on songs like
Pariah and
Blank Tapes , he shares vocal duties with magnificent Israeli musician Ninet Tayeb, each one taking responsibility for half of the song, while on
Song of I, Sophie Hunger's voice is weaved between, above and below Steven's, creating a trip hop masterpiece resembling
Portishead. The subtle two-note phrase that plays atop the electronic drums is maybe one of my favorite things off
To The Bone. Duality is also found on the album's character, balancing between rock and pop, with accessibility co-existing with sophisticated production, instrumentation and subjects. The listener will also find hints of electronic and even... punk? Well, maybe not exactly, but certainly
People Who Eat Darkness (candidate for the ''Weirdest Lyric'' Category - 2017, for the line
your chickens are coming home to roost) is one of the most upbeat and rock n' roll songs in Wilson's catalogue.
Steven Wilson admits there's something for all the family here. His pastiche approach is again present, with the aforementioned combination of prog, pop, electronic, trip-hop, rock n' roll. I do believe, though, this time around the result isn't as intriguing, due to the unexpected shifts in color. The second half of the album, while still excellent, is awkwardly ordered, where songs with nothing in common are put back to back. Biggest turn-off is when Permanating, one of the most interesting and light-hearted songs Steven Wilson has ever written, follows the soul shattering
Refuge, while energetic
People Who Eat Darkness is thrown amidst a group of melancholic and dark songs. That's really the main - if not the only - problem with the new album. It does have something for everyone, but the mood shifts ruin it. There is no sense of unity among the songs, even with the general theme of modern chaos pertaining them. A fragment of an interview he gave reads:
Lyrically, the album’s eleven tracks veer from the paranoid chaos of the current era [...]This just might be Steven Wilson's most political album yet. He was always political in his own way, reacting to industrialism, social estrangement, organized religion and loss of identity, but on To The Bone he takes a clear stand on the refugee crisis, deliberate distortion of reality, religious fundamentalism, terrorism etc.
This is the first album in his solo career where we won't find Theo Travis, nor other long-time collaborators Marco Minnemann and Guthrie Govan. Leaving uncommented the drama that followed some of the members' departure, it's nice seeing new musicians parading through Wilson's studio: first of all, he had the chance of co-writing two songs (To The Bone and Nowhere Now) with XTC's Andy Partridge, whom Steven Wilson holds in high regard. Then, there's session harmonica player Mark Feltham (who has worked with Rory Gallagher and Talk Talk, among many others), who graces us with two interesting solos - the one being on Refuge, where he interchanged with Paul Stacey on guitar and Steven Wilson on synths, and the other on the title track. Adam Holzman and Nick Beggs' presence is always a compliment for an album and Steven would act wisely keeping them near for as long as he can. Drums are played by Jeremy Stacey and Craig Blundell - whom we've met already on album 41/2 - and are the only instrument I feel is underdeveloped throughout. There's no detailing, just plain patterns to keep the rhythm. Unfortunately, nothing memorable.
To the Bone will surely be a subject of conflict and division. It's not that far away from what Steven Wilson could sound like, but it experiments with various new elements at once. Many will try to find
Porcupine Tree here and, to be honest, this might be the closest he's come to mimicking them since their hiatus in 2010, but that alone isn't indicative of anything. This is both a step forward and a look back for Steven Wilson, as was always the case. The important thing is that the artist chose his route. Fans can love it, hate it or ignore it, but their opinion in the end is only the cherry on top. For now, Wilson will continue walking around barefoot and cocky, and there's no sight of anything sharp laying there to cut him To The Bone....
