TARQUIN'S SEAWEED FARM

"Tarquin's Seaweed Farm" is the first studio release by UK artist Steven Wilson under the pseudonym of Porcupine Tree. The album was released through No Man's Land in January 1989. It´s a compilation of recordings from the mid-80 to 1988, and they were originally only released in a very limited number on cassette tape. Strict catalogizing would probably say this is the debut full-length studio album by Porcupine Tree, but it should probably be considered a demo album instead. Tracks 1 - 7 on the album and a re-recorded version of track number 8 "Radioactive Toy" would appear on "On The Sunday Of Life... (1992)" (the official debut full-length studio album by Porcupine Tree).

The material on the 15 track, 77:17 minutes long demo album is psychadelic rock at times strongly influenced by the early Pink Floyd releases. It´s an adventurous sonic journey from minimalistic ambience, to odd spoken word passages, to more regular sounding psychadelic space rock flows. Tracks like "Jupiter Island", "Radioactive Toy", and "Mute" are quite entertaining, but there are several parts of the album which feel uneventful and as a listener it´s hard not to become a little impatient when Wilson opts to spend more time with psychadelic experimental noodling, than on producing memorable songs.

For a "bedroom" recording, "Tarquin's Seaweed Farm" is relatively well sounding, although the programmed drums don´t really do the music any favors. They are simplistic and a little one-dimensional. So upon conclusion "Tarquin's Seaweed Farm" is an album featuring both great promise but also featuring more amaturish tendencies. Which is of course completely understandable at this early stage of Wilson´s career. I see this as more of a novelty recording that it´s nice to have heard to understand where Wilson came from than anything I´ll return to and listen to repeatedly. A 2.5 star (50%) rating is warranted.

(Originally posted on Metal Music Archives)