LAZARUS

"Lazarus" is probably the best Porcupine Tree single. Though it consists of three not-that-sophisticated songs, it provides us some great experience about what we call "beauty". Yeah, three tracks on this single EP are simply beautiful.

The title track, "Lazarus", is one of the best-known Porcupine Tree songs. Although it's a very unusual thing for Steven Wilson and PT because of it's highly melodic, mellow, ghostly sound. Beautiful piano line cuts this song throughout and creates repetetive, dreamy mood, which maintains dark but luring lyrics about a young woman from twenties who killed her small son and then comitted suicide. Although this song is very far from progressive experimantation and falls into Britpop category, it still is one of the finest things Steven Wilson ever did.

Radio edition of this song here omitts train noises from the end, which makes this mix more self-sufficient.

The second track, "So-Called Friend", is one of my personal favourities from Porcupine Tree. Played live during "Deadwing" live shows, it wasn't released on album itself. It is a heavy rock song in unusual time signature. The riff is somewhat similar to Tool's "Flood", but not the same (there's more differences from Tool than similarities, actually). Nice bass during the verses, catchy melody in choruses (which reminds me of something Indian, ain't it?) and mind-blowing percussion during slow parts (it's better to listen to this song live for those percussion parts). Lyrically it tells us story about a man who killed his ex-girlfriend, who "ripped his life apart". So lyrically it reminds me of "In Absentia" rather than of "Deadwing".

The final track here is "Half Light", a 6 minutes-long dream pop ballad. Another masterpiece here! Slow, dreamy, sad, moving, emotional... simply, excellent! The only thing that can be better than "Half Light" on single is "Half Life" onstage ? live rendition of this song isn't as accurate as this studio one, but guitar parts live are superior. Here, in studio version, in the beginning of therack you can hear someone's whispering "David". David is the name of main character in "Deadwing" script, so it means that this song was written for the album, but it was omitted for some unclear reasons. It's a shame actually, as it's much more effective track than "Halo" or "Open Car".

In general, this single is a masterpiece for me. A true gem with two non-album track which are worthy enough to be on this album. Don't miss it! 10/10.