Steven John Wilson's Blog, page 4

THE FUTURE BITES ULTRA DELUXE EDITION SELLS IMMEDIATELY FOR £10,000

The one-of-one edition of Steven Wilson’s forthcoming sixth album THE FUTURE BITES went on sale this morning and sold immediately. The ULTRA DELUXE MUSIC PRODUCT ON OBSOLETE MEDIA edition retailed for £10,000. All proceeds will now go directly to the Music Venue Trust to directly help save grassroots gig venues in the UK.

A video for THE FUTURE BITES track PERSONAL SHOPPER has gone online today.

To coincide with Black Friday, award winning Argentinian director Lucrecia Taormina’s incredible video offers biting commentary on our constant desire to purchase the pointless, heads to Bluewater and wraps the whole thing up in six minutes of discomforting body horror visuals.

Steven Wilson: “Personal Shopper sits somewhere between being a love-letter to shopping (an activity I love) and the uneasy feelings I have about the more insidious side of modern consumerism. Lucretia’s blackly comic video captures that dilemma perfectly.”

Lucrecia Taormina, director: “The track is a social criticism of consumerism and how we fill our lives with unnecessary goods to feel important, special or loved. But the truth is, the feeling of unhappiness won’t go away with the next pair of sick trainers. Those feelings will only go away when we look within, and if we don’t… well, then we’re going to end up with a lot of stuff around us, but still pretty empty. Luckily the track being 6 minutes gave me the opportunity to develop an interesting narrative. I wanted to create a fictional world in which people buy goods and the transaction would not only be money but also a part of their body, alluding to the concept of the more you look for answers outside, the more you disappear on the inside.”

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Watch the new video for PERSONAL SHOPPER

“The song PERSONAL SHOPPER sits somewhere between being a love-letter to shopping (which I love to do!) and the uneasiness I feel about the more insidious side of modern consumerism. Lucretia’s blackly comic video captures that dilemma perfectly.” – Steven Wilson

Pre-order the new album ‘THE FUTURE BITES’ – https://stevenwilson.lnk.to/TheFutureBites

Stream/buy ‘PERSONAL SHOPPER’: https://stevenwilson.lnk.to/PersonalShopper

“The track is a social criticism of consumerism and how we fill our lives with unnecessary goods to feel important, special or loved. But the truth is, the feeling of unhappiness won’t go away with the next pair of sick trainers. Those feelings will only go away when we look within, and if we don’t… well, then we’re going to end up with a lot of stuff around us, but still pretty empty. Luckily the track being 6 minutes gave me the opportunity to develop an interesting narrative. I wanted to create a fictional world in which people buy goods and the transaction would not only be money but also a part of their body, alluding to the concept of the more you look for answers outside, the more you disappear on the inside.” Lucretia Taormina, Director

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THE FUTURE BITES ULTRA DELUXE & 12 THINGS I FORGOT SINGLE RELEASE

THE FUTURE BITES. ULTRA DELUXE MUSIC PRODUCT ON OBSOLETE MEDIA. LIMITED EDITION OF ONE. £10,000. All proceeds to Music Venue Trust.

In addition, new single 12 THINGS I FORGOT from THE FUTURE BITES is online everywhere now! Listen here: https://StevenWilson.lnk.to/12TIFSo

The ULTRA DELUXE MUSIC PRODUCT ON OBSOLETE MEDIA bespoke box includes the already announced deluxe box set of the album, and a plethora of additional exclusive music and artwork, hand-written lyrics, video props, and items of personal ephemera from Steven Wilson’s archive. A truly incredible and unique collector’s piece for one single collector!

Full contents are:

– A one sided 7 inch single containing the track THE TASTEMAKER, a song from the album sessions that will never be released anywhere else. Only ONE copy of this single has been pressed!

– Unique designer laptop bag as used in EMINENT SLEAZE video

– THE FUTURE BITES album test pressing

– EMINENT SLEAZE’ 12 inch single test pressing (with b-sides EYEWITNESS / IN FLORAL GREEN)

– 12 THINGS I FORGOT 12 inch single test pressing (with b-sides MOVE LIKE A FEVER / KING GHOST – TANGERINE DREAM REMIX)

– Hand-made CDR of a one-off 2016 soundcheck performance by the SW band of a cover version never otherwise performed live

– Steven’s Grammy nomination certificate and medal from 2011 for Grace For Drowning, which was nominated for best surround sound mix

– Printed materials used in the EMINENT SLEAZE video

– 6 x laminated AAA passes for various tours between 2011-18

– Polaroids taken during THE FUTURE BITES cover shoot photo session

– An original drawing of Steven Wilson by German artist Hajo Mueller

– Original lyric sheets for various songs written between 1996-2020. These are the actual sheets Steven used when recording the songs and they contain his corrections, notes and rejected lines. Included are Count of Unease, Follower, Eminent Sleaze, Salvaging, Veneno Para Las Hadas, Personal Shopper, The Raven that Refused to Sing, and Dark Matter.

All items are housed in their own bespoke folders and packaging, created especially for this single copy edition.

Steven Wilson: “The ultra edition of THE FUTURE BITES takes the whole notion of deluxe limited editions to its logical and extreme conclusion, by being just a premium priced single copy. This approach is more analogous with the world of art, where only one person can own the actual painting with the artist’s brush strokes on it. Many of the contents are things that in reality are impossible for me to put a price on.

“With regard to the 2 exclusive audio items included, it’s entirely up to the purchaser as to whether they decide to share, or keep them to themselves. Do they want to exhibit ‘the painting’, or put it on ‘display’ for everyone else?”

All proceeds from the sale of ULTRA DELUXE MUSIC PRODUCT ON OBSOLETE MEDIA will go directly to the Music Venue Trust to help save grassroots venues across the UK affected by COVID 19. Many of these are venues that Steven spent his formative years performing in.

“The first Porcupine Tree show was in a small club called The Nag’s Head in High Wycombe, in fact for the first ten years the band gigged solely in that subterranean world of clubs and pub venues. As someone who has never really been a part of the mainstream I can safely say I wouldn’t even be here without these venues and the people who run them. Live music is an inspiration and magical thing for so many people, so it’s essential we work now to save these places for future generations of both artists and fans.”

Beverley Whitrick, Strategic Director, Music Venue Trust adds, “Artists and grassroots music venues are intrinsically linked and MVT has been delighted by the many and varied ways in which artists have responded to our calls for support to #SaveOurVenues. Steven’s project is thought-provoking and unique. We are grateful for being involved.”

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Drown With Me – The Future Bites Sessions

The third song from The Future Bites sessions is Drown With Me, performed with a drum machine, piano, and 2 acoustic guitars (one Nashville strung). Written in 2001, a version of the song was recorded the following year by Porcupine Tree during the In Absentia sessions, but this session version is based on the original demo which has a different chorus. I’m not sure why I changed it at the time because in retrospect I like this chorus better. Both the original demo and the Porcupine Tree recording of the song are included on the recently issued deluxe edition of In Absentia, so you can listen and make up your own mind which is best!

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Collapse The Light Into Earth – The Future Bites Sessions

The second in The Future Bites Sessions series is a version of Collapse The Light Into Earth. This song was originally released as the closing track on Porcupine Tree’s 2002 album In Absentia. That version was written and mostly recorded in my home studio in 2001 during the immediate aftermath of 9/11, with Richard Barbieri adding to it later during the album sessions in New York. To date the song has never been performed live by either PT or my solo band, so I thought it would be a great choice to do in this format. I really hope you enjoy it, and please feel free to make suggestions of other songs you’d like to hear me do as part of the series.

PS – thanks for all the comments about the new studio, yes I’m very happy with it! I’m grateful to my wife Rotem and her friend interior designer Michal Strassburg for planning and designing it. Most of the new equipment came from Funky Junk, and the acoustic treatments were designed and fitted by Sound Zero Acoustics. The vocal microphone I use is an MS47 condenser tube (a clone of the classic Telefunken U47), the piano microphones are Soyuz, and the room mics are Austrian Audio. The M4000 mellotron was custom made for me a few years ago by Streetly Electronics in the UK, who have been making these wonderful beasts since 1963. The organ is a plug in (don’t own a real one of those….yet!)

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King Ghost – The Future Bites Sessions

Like most musicians I’m currently unable to tour or perform in front of a live audience, so instead I’m starting a live in the studio video series called THE FUTURE BITES SESSIONS, creating new stripped down versions of songs in my own studio. Appropriately for Halloween

Watch the new video for KING GHOST

Steven Wilson releases a new track today (October 29th). KING GHOST is taken from Steven’s sixth album THE FUTURE BITES, due out on January 29th 2021 via Caroline International.

As you’d hope from a track of this title, KING GHOST is spectral and gloriously otherworldly, an almost impossibly beautiful piece that arrives on a low bass pulse and centres around a haunting vocal that slides under your skin and stays like an addiction. KING GHOST was the first track recorded for THE FUTURE BITES and is co-produced by David Kosten (Everything Everything. Bat for Lashes) and Steven Wilson.

The video for KING GHOST has been directed by Jess Cope who previously made films for Steven Wilson tracks The Raven That Refused To Sing, Routine and People Who Eat Darkness among others.

Steven Wilson: “King Ghost is one of my favourite tracks from the album and I think one of the most beautiful songs I’ve ever come up with, powerful in its apparent simplicity. Apart from the percussion overdubs (played by Jason Cooper from The Cure, and Michael Spearman from Everything Everything) the music is entirely electronic, mostly using analogue keyboards to create luminous and organic patterns and tones. Much like the song, the video Jess has created focuses more on rich colours and expressing thoughts and feelings though more abstract images, something that takes our collaboration into new territory. It’s stunning and I’m incredibly proud of the combination of the song and the video.”

Jess Cope: “Working with Steven is always challenging, in a good way. I am constantly amazed at his ability to push the boundaries of his music as he moves with the times. I was stunned by King Ghost the first time I heard it and it immediately inspired a certain imagery in my mind. This track encouraged me to explore vibrant colour, texture and pattern. I worked with the animator I originally used on ‘Routine’; together we explored the use of ‘drawn’ animation to produce some awesome and very tactile imagery for the character in the video. We are very proud of the way both music and video perfectly compliment each other.”

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The Future Bites Limited Edition Deluxe Box Set

During lockdown the limited deluxe edition of THE FUTURE BITES has had further content added to it. The exclusive bonus disc now features 6 additional songs (HA BLOODY HA, MOVE LIKE A FEVER, WAVE THE WHITE FLAG, I AM CLICHE, IN PIECES, EVERY KINGDOM FALLS) and 4 extended reworkings of songs from the album, including a 19 minute version of PERSONAL SHOPPER. Meanwhile the Blu-ray now includes videos for EMINENT SLEAZE, KING GHOST & PERSONAL SHOPPER. CD’s of both vocal and instrumental mixes of the album and a cassette of demos complete the audio content. Visually this deluxe edition of THE FUTURE BITES is a high-concept piece which has had a lot of thought and effort put into it, and it’s unlikely to be available much beyond the release date.

Available to pre-order now from either the official THE FUTURE BITES site or from Burning Shed. Released 29th January 2021.

https://store.thefuturebites.com

https://burningshed.com/store/stevenwilson

 

Artwork design by Simon Moore / Baby

3D box set visuals by Crystal Spotlight

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Watch the video for new single EMINENT SLEAZE now!

Following the release of PERSONAL SHOPPER earlier in the year, a second track from THE FUTURE BITES is out online today. EMINENT SLEAZE is a wholly unethical life lesson strapped to a piece of grimy, low-slung funk, and as much a departure from Steven’s previous records as its immediate predecessor (watch Miles Skarin’s end times video for the track below). A limited edition 12” of EMINENT SLEAZE will be released as part of this year’s Record Store Day. It will be available in participating #RSD20 shops both in person and online as part of this year’s third and final RSD20 drop on October 24th. A limited edition CD single will also be released on the same day, along with a very limited merchandise bundle available for 24 hours only. Both CD and 12” feature exclusive tracks recorded during the album sessions EYEWITNESS and IN FLORAL GREEN.

Following a delay caused by the initial onset of COVID 19 and after a subsequent revision, Steven Wilson’s sixth album is finally released on 29th January 2021.

THE FUTURE BITES explores ways that the human brain has evolved in the internet era. Where 2017’s Top 3 album TO THE BONE confronted the (then) emerging global issues of post truth and fake news, THE FUTURE BITES places the listener in a world of 21st century addictions. It’s a place where on-going, very public experiments with nascent technology on our lives take place constantly; where clicks and Tiks have become more important that human interaction. THE FUTURE BITES is less a bleak vision of an approaching dystopia and more a curious and playful reading of a world made all the more strange and separated by the events of 2020.

Musically, THE FUTURE BITES positively gleams. Across the album, there’s tracks that deal in gorgeous electronics warped by human intervention (KING GHOST) and soaring acoustics that hit the stratosphere (12 THINGS I FORGOT); a ten minute treatise on the joys of oniomania laid out by Elton John over a Moroder-esque whirlwind (PERSONAL SHOPPER) and a relentless bass-driven Motorik groove that dives right into the murk of clickbait and online radicalisation (FOLLOWER). The album’s new recording, COUNT OF UNEASE, is a beautifully plaintive close to the album that floats out on a mix of piano and ambient sound. Together, the nine tracks form Steven’s most consistently brilliant work to date. THE FUTURE BITES was recorded in London and co-produced by David Kosten (Bat For Lashes, Everything Everything) and Steven Wilson.

Between now and the release of the album THE FUTURE BITES website will crack a door open onto a wonderful world of purchase power, a place where everything is marketable and nothing is too random or too moronic to be considered valuable. Inspired by notable 21st century artefacts like the Virgil Abloh ceramic block or Vitality Air’s canned Canadian oxygen, THE FUTURE BITES website is a fully imagined consumer universe (built in collaboration with Baby and Crystal Spotlight) designed to be accessible and addictive to anyone from the casual fan to the hardcore collector. The site will feature regular drops of limited edition merchandise over the coming months – this could be anything from a slogan shirt to a branded hole punch.

THE FUTURE BITES will be available on all digital platforms. vinyl, cassette, CD and as a limited edition deluxe box set that contains CDs of the album, an instrumental version of the album, bonus material (including 6 additional songs and several reworked versions of album tracks, among them a 19 minute extended mix of PERSONAL SHOPPER), a cassette of demos and a Blu-Ray featuring videos and Steven Wilson’s own 5.1 surround sound and Dolby Atmos versions of the album. THE FUTURE BITES is the first contemporary album to be mixed and released in Dolby Atmos.

THE FUTURE BITES track listing:

UNSELF

SELF

KING GHOST

12 THINGS I FORGOT

EMINENT SLEAZE

PERSONAL SHOPPER

MAN OF THE PEOPLE

FOLLOWER

COUNT OF UNEASE

New Steven Wilson live dates are currently being confirmed for 2021.

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And No Birds Sing Teaser

Many of you will know that back in 2004 I co-wrote a film screenplay with my close friend, TV commercial director Mike Bennion. The screenplay was for a surreal ghost story called Deadwing, set in London with a film sound engineer David as its central character. I started work writing songs for the soundtrack, but when we couldn’t get the film into production these songs ended up being released across several albums over the next few years, notably the Porcupine Tree album of the same name and my album Insurgentes. Now 16 years later we have completely reworked the script, renamed it And No Birds Sing, and shot a 4 minute test sequence / teaser using temporary actors (just before lockdown), which you can now view here. This is directed by Mike, produced by Gaby Whyte Hart, with sound design by myself (look out also for my brief cameo!) We are now looking to get the film properly cast and into production, hopefully to begin shooting properly in 2021. In the meantime I hope you find the teaser intriguing.

And No Birds Sing is a story that crosses genres, having aspects of Psychological Thriller, Horror and Mystery. Reality merges with film and the supernatural when a London director starts to experience strange events and is forced to confront his troubled past. The film blurs the lines of reality, memory and fiction where sound constantly motivates the twists and turns of the action.

 

 

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