VARIATIONS ON A DREAM

People like to compare The Pineapple Thief to Radiohead and/or The Smashing Pumpkins, and even to Porcupine Tree. I have been guilty of the same mainly because, well, they do wear their influences on their sleeve, but they do wear them well. That is what keeps me coming back to them. Sometimes their music is very light on the prog and heavier on the alternative. Bruce Soord's voice sounds like a slightly more mellow version of Billy Corgan from TSP, and the themes of Radiohead, but usually with less progressiveness. I find on many of their albums, most of their songs are nice, but not very memorable.

"Variations of a Dream", however, is a step above the norm for The Pineapple Thief, at least for me. There is something about it for me that is more memorable and impressive. There are the usual so-so tracks like the instrumental "Resident Alien" which seems like it wants to go somewhere, but ends up just serving as filler, or the repetitive and somewhat annoying "Sooner or Later". But the good tracks on here are really good. For example, I find a lot more heartfelt emotion on "The Bitter Pill" and "We Subside", more ingenuity and room to expand on the 16 minute track "Remember Us", and a little more experimentalism and ambience in "Vapour Trails". Just when you think things might be just a little too sad and slow, they throw in a track just a little more upbeat in "Run Me Through" which also has a great guitar solo in the middle. Bruce also seems to be trying to find his own sound here, but this wouldn't always continue to be the case.

It does seem that every so often, you come across an album of theirs that is better than the others, but it is always hard to put your finger on what it is that makes this album better. I think that when the band gives more time to let their music breathe, they have better results, but not always as was the case with "What We Have Sown" on a different album that stretched out to 27 minutes, which was 12 minutes of overdevelopment. At least, their music is always just good enough to make me want to keep trying, and this album does have more to offer than some of their others, if nothing else, better melodies and better developed songs.

I have given many of their albums 3 stars because they are good albums, but they have nothing that is really memorable or groundbreaking. I give this one 4 stars because the songs are better and more developed for the most part. It has always been one of my favorites from them and each time I hear it, I find it much more intriguing than their weaker albums, which I sometimes have a hard time getting through.