SIGNIFY

Much like Floyd of the late 1960s, all of early Porcupine Tree still seems to be a bit of a mystery to music fans - especially if their familiarity with the band concerns the material post- 'Lightbulb Sun'. But this very first and very psychedelic stage of the Steven Wilson-led band is definitely exciting and offering a lot of musical diversity and a plethora of haunting, memorable ideas. And the fourth studio album stands as one of the prime examples of peak creativity along the lines of the band's early works - 'Signify' is quite an ominous hone-hour long album that despite rooted in the psychedelic tradition, is also inspired strongly by krautrock and offers a unique spin on the trippier side of rock music. This is also the first album "properly" recorded as a band, with more significant contributions from all members, which at the were Colin Edwin, Richard Barbieri and Chris Maitland.

Being predominantly instrumental (with vocals appearing on just five of the twelve tracks), this album is incredibly dark, moody and ethereal, and my god, it does feature some of the most magical instrumental passages from the entire Porcupine Tree back catalogue. Vibrant trance-like rhythms and spacious cymbal work punctuated by waves of dreamy synthesizer sounds and brimming with additional samples and effects, this album is an excellent exercise in experimentation and exhibits a much stronger sense of structure compared to preceding efforts by Wilson. And in fact, 'Signify' does feature several rewarding pieces of music and a couple of vague moments that could have been cut short but nevertheless remains captivating, from the Neu!-inspired title track, to the moody songs 'The Sleep of No Dreaming' and 'Sever', a darker excursion into Wilson's mind, or the spectral instrumentals 'Pagan', 'Idiot Prayer' and 'Light Mass Prayers', this entire LP marks an interesting, important, transitional and memorable episode of Porcupine Tree's career.

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