COVER VERSION IV

On his fourth installment in his Cover Version series, Steven Wilson has provided us with a hauntingly beautiful, yet genuinely disturbing cover of The Guitar Lesson by a controversial aritst named Momus. The song begins with a subtle arpeggiated chord progression, and SW soon proceeds to tell Momus' story of a guitar teacher and his young female student. As the song progresses, it escalates beyond the sweet arpeggiated intro, giving way to more complex instrumentation (including hammered dulcimer, mellotron, sound effects, etc.) to build on the song's dark setting, which is furthered by occasional vocal layerings that I can only describe as unnerving.

The second song, titled The Unquiet Grave, borrows it's lyrics from an English folk song by the same name. Here, SW uses nothing but his own voice throughout the entire song, creating the background harmony with several layers of vocal treatments. This song carries with it a dark atmosphere similar to The Guitar Lesson, although it delivers it in a completely different fashion, and does not involve any potentially offensive lyrics. Even though this piece does fall short to the excellent first track on this release, the 'novelty factor,' the somber mood of the song, and SW's great production make it a very enjoyable song.

This is my favorite thus far of SW's Cover Versions. If you enjoy good lyrics, coupled with outstanding production and instrumentation, it's certainly worth a listen.