Recently I got through the Steven Wilson solo stuff from "Insurgentes" to "The Raven..." and I must say this is pretty awesome stuff. Really don´t know why I missed out this, perhaps because the last Porcupine Tree stuff didn´t grab me the way it did back 13 years ago, I somehow lost contact with his music.
I remember quite a few critics saying things like his solo stuff is "prog by numbers", a sound to satisfy the listener who wants to drown in a comforting bed of delicate 70ies retro prog. I mean yeah, there are several nods to the usual suspects like King Crimson, early Genesis or even some Yes here and there, but he really manages to mix this with his own often quite melancholic or even pretty dark sounding PT-songwriting style that has obviously strongly matured over the years. A song like "The holy drinker" is just awesome. Still have to listen to "Hand cannot erase".
np: Cluster: Zuckerzeit & sowiesoso
Harmonia: first & deluxe
just lovely. And full of "soft and juicy" analog synths - hmmm...
