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Wilson, Steven: Grace For Drowning
 Grace For Drowning is the second solo album from Steven Wilson, mastermind behind Porcupine Tree, Blackfield, No Man, and countless other projects. Following 2008's Insurgentes, Wilson launched himself back into both Porcupine Tree and Blackfield, as well as working with King Crimson's Robert Fripp on remixing some of their classic albums. The time spent with Fripp on those 70's Crimson releases seems to have really rubbed off on Wilson, as Grace For Drowning is a sprawling, adventurous affair that owes as much to the early, spacey Porcupine Tree material as it does to In the Court of the Crimson King, In the Wake of Poseidon, and Islands era King Crimson.
In addition to Wilson contributing vocals and various instruments, the guest list also includes Nic France on drums, Steve Hackett on lead guitar, Robert Fripp, Tony Levin, Nick Beggs and Trey Gunn on warr guitar, Theo Travis and Jordan Rudess. Grace For Drowning take you on one emotional roller coaster ride after another, as it features soaring melodies, stunning soundscapes, chilling tonal colors, and monumental atmosphere. Highlights are many, but some of the standout tracks here include the ominous Mellotron driven "Sectarian", the sumptuous instrumentation and breezy melodies on "Deform to Form a Star", the charming, Blackfield influenced pop of "No Part of Me", and the monstrously haunting "Remainder the Black Dog", complete with jagged guitar lines, jazzy saxophone, mysterious piano, and Mellotron.
That's just on the first CD. Over on the second disc, you have the ambient, and somewhat creepy "Index", the spacey "Track One" (which features some of the most HAUNTING Mellotron on the album), the 23-minute epic "Raider II" (easily the most upbeat & heavy number here, complete with plenty of jaw dropping musical exchanges), and the moody pop of "Like Dust I Have Cleared From My Eye". As you can see, Grace For Drowning contains a lot of music to digest, but considering how much Steven Wilson has written and recorded over the last 20 years, you'd think he'd eventually run out of ideas, but it hasn't happened yet. If you appreciate Wilson's genius, here's another release where you can experience it firsthand.
Track Listing
Disc 1: Deform to Form a Star
1.
"Grace for Drowning"
2:00
2.
"Sectarian"
7:45
3.
"Deform to Form a Star"
8:00
4.
"No Part of Me"
5:45
5.
"Postcard"
4:30
6.
"Raider Prelude"
2:30
7.
"Remainder the Black Dog"
9:30
Disc 2: Like Dust I Have Cleared From My Eye
1.
"Belle de Jour"
3:00
2.
"Index"
4:45
3.
"Track One"
4:15
4.
"Raider II"
23:15
5.
"Like Dust I Have Cleared From My Eye"
8:00
Added: September 27th 2011
Reviewer: Pete Pardo
Score: 
Related Link: Artist Facebook Page
Hits: 10452
Language: english
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Wilson, Steven: Grace For Drowning
Posted by Murat Batmaz, SoT Staff Writer on 2011-09-27 08:53:47
My Score: 
Grace for Drowning eclipses Steven Wilson's first solo album both in scope and composition. It covers a broader spectrum of sounds. While Insurgentes was heavily inspired by Wilson's love for 80s new-wave music, borrowing musical traits from Talking Heads, Joy Division, and The Cure, this album harkens back to the early 70s, with songs being highly experimental, much darker, and a lot more progressive.
Having worked on a lot of early King Crimson material lately, there is no denying that some of the influence has crept into Steven Wilson's songwriting vision. This album is more daring in its approach to melody construction and flow. There are a lot of jazzy elements with extended passages for improvised instrumental bliss. Thanks to the jazz-inflicted drumming, there is plenty of dialogue between the soloists, but the Steven Wilson sound is fully intact. The compositions are characterized by dense soundscapes, but each piece is fragmented with lush, easier-to-digest instrumentation. The tension-filled "Sectarian" involves utterly dark acoustic guitars underscored by eerie percussion, tense silences, weird stop-start riffing at once bringing to mind a strange marriage between Univers Zero and Thinking Plague, but the second half is very accessible due to the sudden shift of mood highlighting the blend of the jazzy piano and Mellotron swells.
Some tracks start and end abruptly while others serve as shorter pieces that tie them together. Wilson sets melting pianos and rising synth modulations against melodic constructs. However, the tracks lack tonal centres, and there is a vast array of electric and acoustic beats with shades of texture placed into sparse arrangements. There is no hierarchy of pitches focusing on a central note. Rather, the notes function independently of each other without adhering to tonal principles. This obviously makes some of the songs a more demanding yet at the same time more rewarding listen.
At face value, some fans may write the album off as meandering, too slow, or too long, but this album seems very defined beneath the surface. Yes, it is long, but Steven Wilson chose to spread it over two 40-minute discs, rather than cramming it all onto a single CD. He hopes fans will tackle each album independently instead of trying to take all of it in at one sitting. The first disc is a little more song-oriented while the second one is darker and more experimental. That said, there are songs on each disc that are coterminous with each other. The short two-minute instrumental "Raider Prelude" on the first disc is actually just a foreshadowing of the 20-plus-minute progressive epic "Raider II" from the second CD. This monstrous composition recalls Lizard-era King Crimson in terms of ambition and breadth. Replete with Jordan Rudess' electric piano interludes and Mellotron-infested sound manipulations, it boasts cascades of guitars resolving with odd-time signatures under hypnotic, trance-like passages. All the while, Theo Travis' coiling flute and sax lines weave in and out of the dissonant composition, deconstructing it to its calm finale.
Do not listen to this album in hopes of figuring out in which tunes the stunning list of guest musicians play. Jordan Rudess' contribution to the album is very uncharacteristic for him. His Grand piano on "Deform to Form a Star" sounds nothing like he's done in Dream Theater, perhaps because the song puts the piano in the back in favour of Wilson's stunning vocals following a silvery guitar solo. Similarly, Tony Levin's bass is utilized for a strong low-end here. Unless you're a crazy fan of King Crimson's criminally underrated album The Construkction of Light and the dazzling The Power to Believe, you won't notice it's Pat Mastolotto playing on the Blackfield-like "No Part of Me," whose instrumental break is punctuated by Trey Gunn's heavier-than-everything Warr guitar.
The only song that will give away its guest is probably "Remainder the Black Dog" with Steve Hackett providing his unique, gorgeous fretwork. Hackett is easy to distinguish because of his tone and phrasing: he juxtaposes fusion-inflicted notes with dissonant melodies before allowing a groove-locked bass solo to shake the very grounds you stand on. It's a killer song that evokes Wilson's work on No-Man's Returning Jesus in places, but this one is more chaotic and heavier.
Also, there is the beautifully crafted, chilling dark pop of "Postcard" which sounds like Blackfield crossed with Steven Wilson's 'daily life' lyrics delivered over a haunting piano-acoustic guitar theme and the more modern-sounding "Index" where Wilson emotes spoken vocals with narcotic melodies and Mastelotto's rolling drum beat accompaniment. All throughout, the mix and production are ingenious, possibly Wilson's best.
Lyrically, the album is inspired by stories of people who have had near death experiences, particularly with drowning. It is about the state of calm one gets into after the struggling, but the title may also be a metaphor for 'drowning' in the stress and speed of modern city life, which has been the subject matter of many of Wilson's recent songs.
If I were forced to make a choice for a single album in the experimental progressive genre, I would be torn between this album and Garden Wall's Assurdo. Grace for Drowning is some of the most beautiful music I have heard this year. Beautiful in a strange way.
(This is also a very personal album for Steven Wilson. In the liner notes, he dedicates it to his father, who he lost earlier this year.)
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Wilson, Steven: Grace For Drowning
Posted by Ed Lohrer - e3_prog on 2011-09-07 21:01:43
My Score:
Nice review Pete, as I enjoy most of your reviews, but why only for stars?
You infer that Steven Wilson is a genius, which I agree, but what criticisms do you have that doesn't make this a 4.5 or 5 star review?
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