While they’re often considered card-carrying members of the UK prog fraternity, The Pineapple Thief have always cherry-picked styles from that genre while also drawing on grunge (particularly in their early, turn-of-the-millennium output), metal, electronica and Radiohead-esque angst rock.
Their penchant for a multi-segmented meander through a 20-minute song cycle has been a recurringly noticeable feature up until now, though, and the recruitment of King Crimson and Porcupine Tree percussion virtuoso Gavin Harrison has seemed to boost their creative juices in recent years.
It Leads To This is a pronounced turn towards more tightly constructed, concise songs – said to be the result of mainman Bruce Soord and Harrison writing together in the same room.
The results rock with dynamic, dramatic vigour on Put It Right and Rubicon, while Soord’s ability to tug melodically at heart strings remains in emotive evidence when the storm clouds part on Now It’s Yours and To Forget.
