The Longevity Option: An Interview with Steven Wilson

Home Invasion celebrates Steven Wilson's victory lap after the chart success of 2017's To the Bone. Still, he says, there are more places to plant his flag, mountains to climb.

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Home Invasion celebrates Steven Wilson's victory lap after the chart success of 2017's To the Bone. Still, he says, there are more places to plant his flag, mountains to climb.

As a tribute to a recently departed fan, Steven Wilson and Mariusz Duda (of Lunatic Soul and Riverside fame) have teamed up for the gorgeous song "The Old Peace".

In taking the '70s prog influences that were present on Grace for Drowning and blowing them up, Steven Wilson has made what is easily the most "prog" release of his storied career.

With the February 25th release of Steven Wilson’s third solo LP The Raven That Refused to Sing (and other stories) approaching, PopMatters looks back on Wilson’s storied career to pick out ten of his strongest recordings, ranging from beautiful works of ambience to transcontinental art rock.

As this Between the Grooves series concludes, we finish with “Stop Swimming”, one of Steven Wilson’s favorite Porcupine Tree songs. Stupid Dream's jazz-tinged closer is drenched in the mood of disillusionment and the apathy of being apathetic.

Nine years after "Radioactive Toy", doomsday has finally happened. And if "A Smart Kid" is any indication, the freedom to destroy probably wasn't such a good idea in the first place.

Despite Gavin Harrison & Ø5Ric's rhythmic prowess, The Man Who Sold Himself is a coldly intellectual work of prog that isn't as fun to listen to as it is challenging.

The second single off of Stupid Dream, "Stranger by the Minute" is one of the album's most endearing songs, a tongue-in-cheek mash of psychedelic lyrics and radio-friendly rock. It's also unusually chipper for these usually melancholy proggers.

Stupid Dream's eighth track, "Baby Dream in Cellophane", is a unique little experiment in that it merges Porcupine Tree's early psychedelic sonic with Steven Wilson's love of Beach Boys-styled vocal harmonies.

"This Is No Rehearsal", one of Stupid Dream's most radio-friendly moments, is a concise demonstration of the heavy/soft balance Porcupine Tree has come to master, as well as a retelling of a horrific tale.

The British art-rock duo No-Man, consisting of Tim Bowness and Steven Wilson, has long toiled in semi-obscurity. But thanks to the success of Wilson's other band, Porcupine Tree, No-Man is finally beginning to receive its proper due on the eve of its new release, Love and Endings.

Concluding the Unrequited Love Trilogy in a state of despair and hopelessness, "Don't Hate Me", the best song on Stupid Dream, is most memorable for the instrumental interplay that comprises the latter half of the track, featuring some of Porcupine Tree's best musicianship.

With this second song in the Unrequited Love Trilogy, the realization of rejection has now fully hit our narrator. Listen as what hints of optimism were present in the track before this one bleed away into a dark, obsessive determination.

This installment of Between the Grooves looks at the beginning of Stupid Dream's "Unrequited Love Trilogy", the whimsical "Pure Narcotic". The unnamed narrator's first glimpse of unreturned love is the calm before the storm that inevitably follows.

The first decade of the new millennium proved to be a fruitful time for great progressive rock. While some of prog’s most legendary bands took turns for the worse, others rose to meteoric prominence.

The Porcupine Tree frontman reveals why he's jazzed about his unconventional new solo album.

Steven Wilson speaks eloquently about the halcyon days of yesteryear, but would he (or anyone) want to step backward into the rigged game we've only recently escaped from?

Steven Wilson took a break from recording his latest solo record plus remastering the King Crimson back catalog to chat with PopMatters about Porcupine Tree’s exile from the mainstream, why heavy metal is passé, and why today’s musicians lack the mystique of earlier rock stars.

Porcupine Tree's latest tour finds them playing the entirety of The Incident in sequence, followed by a second set of older material. Their Houston concert was both intense and entertaining.

Porcupine Tree adds another concept album to its catalog. It may not be groundbreaking, but Steven Wilson's crew still provides the best Pink Floyd-meets-metal-meets-Britpop conglomeration out there.

The ever prodigious Porcupine Tree main man Steven Wilson talks at length with PopMatters about the problems with download culture, the inferiority of the MP3, his strong work ethic and the mysteries of the creative process.

England's prog-rock torchbearers continue to put out exciting, accessible music with this strong EP.

Dream Theater and Rush better watch their backs; Porcupine Tree's Fear of a Blank Planet is a strong contender for the progressive album of the year!