BLACKFIELD

Like decomposing Tool on its most simple essence gave origin to A Perfect Circle, the same can be said about the relationship between Porcupine Tree and Blackfield. This functions somehow, as Steven Wilson, leader of Porcupine Tree said himself, as a form to relief his taste for songwriting and to provide for his main band, all the space for experimentations. The music is craftily beautiful, between subtle and languid explosions, in a lush arrangement of details, solemn moments and string nuances, eliciting melancholic paintings around existential lyrics. It moves toward rich pop orchestration, as the album is very track-oriented, but it does not embrace it - here, songs are moved, are built around atmospheres. The instrumental parts are sparse but elegant, sensitively balanced and globally compelling - the true icons of the tracks - and melodies are reinforced by the celestial effect of backing vocals.

"Blackfield", "Pain", "Hello" and "Cloudy Now" were the hitting singles, the later particularly moving, with its dense and dreamy nostalgic atmosphere, touching glimpses of a space contemplation, while having the most achieved lyrics of the album, tracing signs of the Radiohead's description of a generation existential anguish. Indeed the album's final is one of its strong points, moving then to the ethereal choral explosions of "The Hole in Me" and ending with the simple but touching "Hello".

Far more complex than we may think at first listen, the richness of this project relies on a extremely gifted sense on arrange multiple layers and balancing every detail, transforming what would be a trivial collection of pop songs on a compelling sequence of meaningful, tangible paintings.