YOUR WILDERNESS

I must admit that I've never been a fan of The Pineapple Thief, which frankly also amazes me, since theoretically this band has most of the elements I like in prog music. Moody, atmospheric, melodic and experimental music should be fun, right? No, I checked each of their albums many times in the hopes of finding a new favorite band, but I failed miserably. While I always felt that the main influence in their music was Porcupine Tree, somehow the music did not click, although I definitely adore Porcupine Tree.

This time, it's different. So different that it made me write my first review for this site after many years of readership and my hiatus in music journalism. This is the first Pineapple Thief album, that IMHO does "everything" right. The inclusion of Gavin Harrison is probably one of the most important factors in elevating their music to new heights but of course there is more to it than that. Crystal clear production, Geoffrey Richardson's breathtaking string arrangements, Darran Charles' amazingly concise and effective solos really shine and above all Soord's songwriting has IMHO considerably matured, which resulted in interesting song structures and also infectious melodies. This is something very hard to achieve, and those who can do this, mostly become prog icons of our age (I'm looking at you Mr. Wilson).

Speaking of Steven Wilson, I always felt that Bruce Soord subconsciously aspired to become the next Wilson of our time and this is the first time that he passed this exam with full marks IMHO. The music in Your Wilderness can be summarized like this: Imagine the latter day Porcupine Tree, take away the excessive heaviness and instead put more tendencies towards modern british rock/indie music with some pop sensibilities into the cauldron and voila! Since most of us crave for a new Porcupine Tree album, this album felt like an oasis in the desert. Yes, nothing groundbreaking here, nothing new to hear but this is the most "complete" album in this style since 2008. The only flaw? It's so damn' short!

I'm not a fan of track by track reviews and will never do anything like that but Your Wilderness is an album which is greater than the sum of its parts. I've never found a moment where my amazement ceased in this magnum opus thus I don't hesitate to give it five stars. Recommended for Porcupine Tree fans!

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