“There is perhaps no better demonstration of the folly of human conceits than this distant image of our tiny world.” That was how noted astronomer, planetary scientist, author and TV star Carl Sagan – in his celebrated 1994 book Pale Blue Dot: A Vision Of The Human Future In Space – described Voyager 1’s 1990 photo of Earth.
It remains a stark representation of the insignificance of humanity amid the vast cosmos. Steven Wilson would have been about 13 years old when Sagan’s Cosmos: A Personal Voyage aired in the UK; but, like many creatives, he found a deep fascination in the idea of the vastness of space and the fact we’ve barely scratched its surface.
‘The overview effect’ is the name given to the often quite harrowing impact on those in space seeing our planet for the first time. Introduced to the concept last year, the cogs in Wilson’s mind began turning. Space and art have long been comfortable bedfellows; but within music, little works better with the idea of the infinite reaches of a vast cosmos than progressive rock. A sense of exploration, of adventure, of the unknown. And, as one wag once put it, “they both go on for ever.”
Having been smitten with the idea of the overview effect as a creative concept, it was, as Wilson told Prog, to “the genre hitherto known as progressive rock” that he turned. Or rather returned. One could probably fill an entire universe with the debate that’s raged over Wilson and his connection with prog, certainly in the last decade.
While it’s true to say that his return to conceptual long-form music has sent gravitational waves of excitement through his fanbase (although maybe not all of the wider prog community), it’s equally true to say that even when pushing musical boundaries, and with it the patience of some listeners – as on 2008’s spiky lo-fi Insurgentes, or more obviously, the adventurous funky electronica of 2021’s The Future Bites – the music was still rooted in the progressive. Just not the specific style some fans wanted to hear.
So, what you really want to know is: how prog is The Overview? There were plenty of pointers on 2023’s The Harmony Codex to where he might be heading musically, especially in its longer songs; and Prog is very happy to report that The Overview is very prog indeed.
But it doesn’t sound like The Raven That Refused To Sing-style prog. Or even Hand. Cannot. Erase.-style prog. In keeping with the overarching concept, this really is 21st-century progressive music, and is a far more satisfying listen for that.
There are certainly some influences on display, not least Wilson’s well-known fondness for Pink Floyd, whose The Dark Side Of The Moon has long been a benchmark for the conceptual. But it’s there only in small touches – an Adam Holzman keyboard flurry, and the dreamy saxophone that concludes the closing Permanence.
Occasional musical motifs from Wilson’s own and Porcupine Tree’s past crop up: a cascading chord sequence or a harmonic refrain. Wilson’s calling cards; little musical comfort blankets, so to speak. Yet nothing overshadows the totality of the concept.
Musically the sweeping sense of the grandiose goes a long way to capturing the vast, cold expanse of space. Lyrically too, Wilson and musical foils manage the somewhat tricky feat of conveying both the epic and the earthbound.
The sweeping sense of the grandiose goes a long way to capturing the vast, cold expanse of space
In the Objects: Meanwhile section of Objects Outlive Us, XTC’s Andy Partridge perfectly marries the mundanity of everyday life with the sometimes terrifying reality of the cosmos in lines such as, ‘The driver in tears, ’bout his payment arrears / Still, nobody hears when a sun disappears in a galaxy afar’ bringing the integral concept into sharp focus.
Wilson’s wife Rotem intoning huge numbers connected with space in a detached robotic monotone – on the opening Perspective section of side two’s The Overview – reflects the harsh, unfriendly and unlit reality of space itself. “It’s death,” Wilson told us. You can feel it in the music here.
The Overview is both a challenging and sometimes daunting listen. It’s also a compelling and enthralling experience that should delight fans of his proggier output – and it’s contemporary enough to introduce listeners from outside too.
It can certainly hold its own alongside both The Raven That Refused To Sing and Hand. Cannot. Erase. as one of his finest ever releases. ‘I incline myself to space,’ Wilson sings as the haunting opening strains of The Overview begin to filter out of your speakers. Join him for the ride.
The Overview is on sale now via Fiction.
