STEVEN WILSON is among the UK’s most acclaimed and prolific artists. As an artist/songwriter/producer and Grammy-nominated remixer he made a gradual transition from cult status with Porcupine Tree to mainstream success as a charting solo artist in the 21st century.
With a career that’s spanned more than three decades, it represents the apotheosis of a life spent fully absorbed in music. That life in music began when Steven Wilson started making music at the age of 10 and never stopped. Inspired by his parents record collection (particularly the twin foundation stones of Pink Floyd’s Dark Side of the Moon and Donna Summer’s Love To Love You Baby), Wilson initially worked at home on a multi-track tape machine his electrical engineer father build for him, creating musical worlds in his head that eventually morphed into actual bands years later.
Originally a vehicle for teenage tape experiments in psychedelic and progressive music, Porcupine Tree became real in the early ’90s with a fixed line up playing gigs and releasing albums that shifted between ambient electronics and expansive Floydian rock. In 2002, Porcupine Tree’s sound honed perfectly on their classic album In Absentia (“a 21st century masterpiece” Classic Rock). The brutal and propulsive metal element the band added to their music ended up being hugely influential on a generation of bands that followed.
In Absentia was the first record Wilson worked on that was mixed in 5.1 surround sound, coming at a time when home cinema systems had brought more immersive audio set ups into the home. In the two decades since that release, Wilson learnt the craft of mixing spatial audio and became the Grammy nominated, go-to mixer for classic albums by artists such as The Who, ABC, Tears for Fears, Roxy Music, King Crimson, Chic, Suede and many others.
As Porcupine Tree’s status grew in the first decade of the 21st century, Steven Wilson would spend an increasing amount of time working on solo material. Beginning with the 2008 release of Insurgentes, Wilson’s solo albums increasingly presented him as a uniquely singular talent.
With each new release, Wilson’s sound splintered into new directions, defying genre and wrong footing expectations. In time, Insurgentes post-punk snarl would give way to the expansive sweep of bold and heartbreaking melody on 2015’s Hand. Cannot. Erase. and eventually, to layers and layers of gorgeous crystalline electronics on 2020’s The Future Bites. And, with each new release, Wilson’s reputation as a live performer cemented and the venues visited grew from theatres to arenas.
Having put Porcupine Tree on hiatus in 2010 after their biggest show to that point at the Royal Albert Hall, Wilson unexpectedly returned to the band for a 2022 album release. Closure/Continuation charting at No 2 in the UK and saw the band headline Wembley Arena at home and festivals all across Europe to rave reviews.
While Closure/Continuation played to packed houses the world over, Wilson was already deep inside The Harmony Codex. Conceived in a studio built in a converted garage in North London, the record grew over time with contributions from long time studio partners (such as Ninet Tayeb, Craig Blundell, David Kosten and Adam Holzman) alongside a host of first time collaborators including Jack Dangers of Meat Beat Manifesto and Interpol’s Sam Fogarino.
The result is that puzzle box, that Escher painting - an album made by an artist who began excitedly experimenting with tape loops in his bedroom and decades later still approaches to the musical world he has created with the same sense of wonder and creativity…
