Porcupine Tree - The Incident
2009
Progressive Rock
The last two, perhaps three, Porcupine Tree records had songs I adored alongside songs I loathed in various ratios. I loved most of In Absentia, I liked most of Deadwing, but I didn’t like much of Fear of a Blank Planet. Such is the risk when you approach music the way Steven Wilson does, never establishing a core sound for your band and trying new things with each successive release. You’re going to please some people - we’ve all heard fans cry genius - and you’re going to disappoint some people - we’ve all heard haters cry overrated.
Personally, I’ve always found his craft more interesting than satisfying. I only love about half his work with Porcupine Tree, but I’ll never criticize him for experimenting with their sound and trying to push it to new limits because I love it when artists do that. If I don’t happen to enjoy it all the time, then so be it.
The Incident is, a little surprisingly, their most consistent offering since Lightbulb Sun. It drags a little toward the middle of the s/t song cycle, and “Bonnie the Cat” isn’t so good, but it’s an otherwise wholly stellar release and one of the finest of 2009.
The reason it’s better than its immediate predecessors is because I think Wilson tapped into a songwriting groove more in touch with his greatest strengths. He’s been testing the waters of hard rock and heavy metal oh-so-sporadically on their last few albums, and earlier on in their career he was considerably more trippy, but here he seems to have gone back to a more Radiohead-esque style that serves him better. When I say “Radiohead-esque” I don’t mean he’s ripping off Radiohead; rather, I mean that he’s playing more hooky, alternative rock with a unique spin to it. There are more tracks where he just has an acoustic guitar in his hand or a piano playing and he just runs with it, as opposed to having rockin’ riffs ala “Shallow” or “Fear of a Blank Planet”. It’s a considerably more subtle, understated work than anything we’ve seen from Porcupine Tree recently.
One negative I will point out is that there doesn’t seem to be as much soul crushing material as on previous outings. There isn’t a single track that invokes a similar reaction to the first time I heard “A Smart Kid”, “Trains” or “Arriving Somewhere...” However, many come close, the stretches from “The Blind House” - “Kneel and Disconnect” and “The Seance” - “I Drive the Hearse” being the two staunchest examples. And that's the way it was meant to be, most likely; better as a whole and not as a dissolution of its parts.
I think it’s worth mentioning The Incident isn’t as great a change from what came before it as, say, Signify was to Stupid Dream. Wilson has gotten his hands dirty in so many side projects nowadays I don’t think he has as much to pour into Porcupine Tree experimentally. However, it’s just as promising a change, which is saying a lot, because Stupid Dream is one of my favorite records ever.
What did you guys think?
Stand-Outs: "The Blind House", "I Drive the Hearse", "Flicker"
Rating: 8/10