Steven Wilson usually makes it true: his promise to not promise anything. Content to be able to challenge his listeners, not having to submit to conventions, limits, or expectations, he plays with whatever his fans are expecting, giving them a smirk, saying “oh, you thought this was going to be apple? Sorry, here’s banana”. And usually, before any release, fans go on saying things like “if this is anything like the last one, he’s lost me”, hoping for an album “similar to XY”, as if any Wilson solo album was anything like the last one or similar to any of this other work.
That’s the exciting aspect about this artist. Listeners love him for that, and they hate him for that. Each new release could easily be a jazz/fusion-, brit-pop-, or noise/drone-album. I choose these weirdly specific genre-combinations, because – as every Wilson fan knows – he indeed has released all those albums. And they usually earn a lot of praise. Remember, “Hand. Cannot. Erase.” was the “The Wall” of the 21st century! Whatever that means. They also earn lots of disapproval, accusations of selling out because of pop influences (“To The Bone”) or selling out even more because of pop influences (“The Future Bites”). However, Wilsonusually manages to pour these influences into a form of his own musical identity. As a result, a Steven Wilsonalbum is always recognizable as such, no matter if it’s a synth-pop-, new-prog/prog-metal-, or ambient/folk-album (once again, these are not made-up combinations).
This pattern of not following different patterns has worked until now. For his newest release, however, Wilsondecided to work without any agenda and create an album that doesn’t belong to any specific genre. Of course, a genreless album is impossible to make, so this undertaking resulted in a varied, colorful record, reaching out to various genres, including many influences, and taking a few steps that are unconventional, even for Steven Wilson’s standards. This can either result in a thrilling journey through the unknown, or just in a loose collection of tracks that are so different from each other that they shouldn’t be on the same album. Let’s see which one “The Harmony Codex” will be.
After the largely self-recorded “The Future Bites”, Wilson decided to rely on the skills of his frequent collaborators and session musicians again. His privilege to be able to use such a large number of talented musicians has always led to stunning contributions. Wilson usually even lets his colleagues off the leash quite a bit, perhaps taking influence from masters such as Frank Zappa or Robert Fripp. Many fans will be delighted to hear that this is the case once again on most tracks of his new album. The opening “Inclination”for instance makes perfect use of the abilities of legendary King Crimson percussionist Pat Mastelotto, who provides an electronically manipulated rhythm fundament and gated tom sounds. Even more interestingly, Steven Wilson seems to give an appreciating nod to Jon Hassell during the opening track, with the layered trumpet sounds of Nils Peter Molvaer that were once typically created by the late great ambient pioneer. “Inclination” features a complete instrumental first half, serving as a dark and suspenseful introduction, and is a far more interesting opening to “The Harmony Codex” than “Unself”/”Self” was to “The Future Bites”.
Surprisingly, large portions of “The Harmony Codex” are instrumental or use voice(s) as “just” another color within the lavish arrangements. A mostly vocal-less song like “Impossible Tightrope” might be exactly what “Raven”-, “Hand”-, or “Grace”-fans have been waiting for, although it still would have been an outsider on any of these albums. Despite all Pink Floyd– and Yes-influences, it still features a quite trip-hoppy rhythm section, provided by jack of all trades Nate Wood and even some 90s Brit-pop influences at times. An eminently (pun intended) new feature in the Wilson-cosmos is the choir featured during the middle section of the song though, which explains what he might have meant by “spiritual” jazz influences. Prominent features of Theo Travis and Adam Holzman go perfectly with the Kamasi Washington-infused gospel choir during this 11-minute journey. Well done, Steven.
Still, fans who heard this cut as a single and expected a full album in this vein might be disappointed by the whole Codex as the fusion-prog track is but one of many colors shown on the rectangular shapes of the album cover. Another ten minutes are spent without a sung word by the far more meditative title track, revealing Wilson’s long-lasting love for 70s infused ambient and electronic music by the likes of Tangerine Dream, the late Klaus Schulze or Nils Frahm, to name a more contemporary example. It takes a lot of self-confidence and trust into his fans to release an ambient track featuring spoken word contributions by his wife Rotem on a “regular” Steven Wilson album, instead of including it on a new Bass Communion release (which by the way is still highly anticipated by the reviewer and ambient fans alike for sure). Still, it works somehow and brings the “Codex” to a halt, giving listeners a moment to breathe, while giving off a sublime feeling, not unlike Pink Floyd managed to do 55 years earlier on “A Saucerful Of Secrets”.
In between experiments and ventures, there are also some tracks on “The Harmony Codex” that might be less of a surprise to fans. This is not to say these songs don’t reach the quality of the aforementioned ones. They are just closer to what you might expect from a Steven Wilson album. “Time Is Running Out” and the introverted “Economies Of Scale” capture the electronic, beat-driven vibe of “The Future Bites”, but don’t aim to get listeners to move their feet to it. Both tracks are essentially Wilson-solo tracks proper, with the exception of a few contributions from Adam Holzman and Niko Tsonev. “What Life Brings” is a more traditional track that wouldn’t have been misplaced on “Stupid Dream” or “Lightbulb Sun”. Or “Division Bell” or “A Momentary Lapse Of Reason”, for that matter. It is safe to say that son-in-law of Richard Wright and touring bassist for the final two Pink Floyd tours Guy Pratt was a perfect choice for this beautifully unfussy piece of psychedelic pop.
“The Harmony Codex” is also home to a few peculiar electronica-artpop gems that only Steven Wilson would be able to create. “Beautiful Scarecrow” and “Actual Brutal Facts” even bring back the unsettling, eerie aura created by “Index” from 2011’s “Grace For Drowning”, with the former building up to a layered electronic construct of sound, completed by Ben Coleman’s weeping violin, until it crashes into a signature drum groove of the much missed Craig Blundell. A secret highlight on the “Codex”. These songs are not about melody or harmonies, but rather about atmosphere, the uneasy feeling they bring across.
Studying this quite complex album for roughly a week like the reviewer did is far from appropriate to lay down an adequate review, which is why what you are reading is rather the momentary impression of the release. It will take a few months to comprehend what the “Codex” is all about, and this includes the thoughts expressed by its lyrics. Dedicated fans will know the unsettling, yet heartbreaking science fiction short story found towards the end of Wilson’s book “Limited Edition Of One”, which serves as the basis for the thoughts shared on “The Harmony Codex”. Everything comes together in the final track “Staircase”, musically as well as lyrically (probably), including modern electronica, convoluted bass lines, a superb rhythm section and a grand yet reserved finale featuring a callback to the ambient soundscapes and spoken words of the title track. Staircases take an important role in the aforementioned short story. However, quite a bit of time will be needed to connect all the dots and find meaning in the words sung and spoken on the album. And quite a bit of work will be needed to fully grasp what is happening during the 64-minute journey that is “The Harmony Codex”.
Until then, here are a few disjointed thoughts in no particular order that popped up in the reviewer’s head while listening and that haven’t been expressed in this review.
- It is versatile.
- It is dark and unsettling at times.
- It sounds incredible. Seriously.
- It is more complex, more interesting, and ultimately better than “The Future Bites”.
- It is also harder to get into than “Hand. Cannot. Erase.” and “To The Bone”.
- It will be interesting to see how these soundscapes are transported onto the stage.
- It is more daring and innovative than Porcupine Tree’s comeback album “Closure/Continuation” (of course this wasn’t too hard to achieve).
- It barely has any big, catchy choruses.
- It doesn’t in any way try to be liked by mainstream audiences.
- It cannot be danced to (mostly).
Tracks
- Inclination
- What Life Brings
- Economies Of Scale
- Impossible Tightrope
- Rock Bottom
- Beautiful Scarecrow
- The Harmony Codex
- Time Is Running Out
- Actual Brutal Facts
- Staircase
Personell
Steven Wilson – vocals (tracks 1-6, 8-10), acoustic guitar (tracks 2-4, 8), ARP 2600 (tracks 1, 4, 7), audio feedback (track 9), bass guitar (tracks 3, 4, 7, 8, 10), celesta (track 8), Cobalt 8 synthesizer (tracks 4, 5, 7, 10), electric guitars (tracks 2, 4-6, 8, 9), electric piano (track 9), harp (tracks 4, 5), Hammond organ (tracks 2, 4, 10), horn (track 10). Mellotron (track 9), Moog Arpeggiator (track 10), Moog Sub 37 synthesizer (tracks 2, 4-9), percussion (tracks 2, 6), piano (all tracks), programming (tracks 1, 3, 4, 6, 8-10), Prophet-6 synthesizer (tracks 5, 7, 8), Rhodes piano (track 4), Solina Strings (tracks 2, 4, 6, 8-10 and track 9 on Harmonic Distortion), strings (tracks 3-7, 10), theremin (track 9 on Harmonic Distortion), voices (track 3)
Session musicians
Adam Holzman – Rhodes piano (tracks 1, 4, 7), piano (track 9), DFAM loops (track 10), Modular synthesizer (tracks 1, 3, 6), Moog synthesizer solo (track 10), Wurlitzer organ (track 5)
Ben Coleman – violin (track 4)
Craig Blundell – drums (tracks 2, 5, 6, 10), hi-hat (track 9), percussion (tracks 6, 9)
David Kollar – lead guitar (tracks 1, 9), ambient guitar (track 4)
David Kosten – programming (tracks 1, 10)
Guy Pratt – bass guitar (track 2)
Jack Dangers – electric beats (track 6), programming (track 9)
Jason Cooper – tom drum (track 6)
Lee Harris – psychedelic guitar (track 4)
Nate Wood – drums (track 4)
Nick Beggs – Chapman Stick (tracks 6, 10)
Niko Tsonev – guitars (tracks 1, 4, 10), lead guitar (tracks 5, 8, 10)
Nate Navarro – fretless bass (track 1), bass guitar (track 9)
Nils Petter Molvaer – trumpet (track 1)
Ninet Tayeb – vocals (track 5), guitars (track 5), backing vocals (tracks 1, 2)
Pat Mastelotto – drums (track 1), percussion (track 1)
Rotem Wilson – voices (tracks 7, 10)
Samuel Fogarino – drums (track 10)
Theo Travis – flute (track 1), saxophone (track 4), duduk (track 6)
