YOUR WILDERNESS

UK threesome THE PINEAPPLE THIEF has been a feature in the UK rock and progressive rock scene since the tail end of the 1990's. releasing new albums at a steady pace and maintaining a fairly well established fan-base worldwide as well from what I understand. "Your Wilderness" is their most recent studio album, and was released through renowned UK label Kscope in August 2016.

Those with an interest in the more indie rock oriented takes on the progressive rock genre should find much to love on this latest studio production by The Pineapple Thief. This isn't the kind of album that use overly dramatic effects or pompous arrangements to create moods and atmospheres, but rather opts to explore landscapes of a more delicate and melancholic general nature. Perhaps more of a mainstream oriented affair if regarded in a more superficial manner, but with liberal amounts of subtle details that makes the end result a rather more sophisticated venture than you'll initially get the impression of.

Just about all the songs have something of an ebb and flow structure to them, and sparse, delicate recurring sequences is something of a red thread throughout. This approach is explored in many different manners however, but just about all the compositions opens with a gentle touch. Dampened instruments or sparse instrument arrangements paired off with the emotionally laden, frail lead vocals of Bruce Soord is a recurring feature, with songs then either slowly building up towards a more intense expression or a song alternating between more stark, contrasting gentle and fleshed out arrangements the main variations encountered.

The vocals often gives these songs, especially in the gentler passages, something of a Radiohead vibe, while the more sophisticated, multiple layered ones gives the compositions something more of a Porcupine Tree vibe. On this occasion there are tracks that heads off into other directions as well, the more vibrant landscapes explored in Tear You Up can be mentioned, as well as the subtly intense, slightly Tom Petty flavored piece Take Your Shot. Some nice, softly jazz-tinged details are included in the calmer, darker toned Fend For Yourself as well, further expanding the total scope of this album.

At the end of the day this album is dominated by the gentler, melancholic and fragile moods however, with frail, emotionally haunting landscapes and soft melancholic movements the key characteristic traits defining this production. Besides existing fans, I'd suggest that those fond of the calmer parts of the Radiohead back catalogue and those fascinated by the gentler parts of Porcupine Tree's material would be something of an ideal crowd for this CD.

This album got me out of my mutism.

I actually read a review in a Quebec newspaper saying this art-rock album was the sh...the bomb I mean. I said 'Oh well, it's probably overrated, but let's give it a try'...Boy, am I glad I did. I never got really into the Pineapple Trip, and frankly they always seemed to me another band catching the Porcupine Virus. Well, they indeed pay tribute to Wilson and Co. but in a very convincing way. Very, very convincing way. Yes, they are that good.

All in beauty and (pardon my french) retenue, they are not exploding but imploding gently. The Pineapple Gang is very capable of letting the beast roar here and there, but surprisingly, this album is not so rock but oscillating between the rock and mellow. By mellow I mean 'rainy' or 'eerie', at least 'foggy'.

Beauty, retenue and rainy, whatever the formula is, it bullseyed. A beautifully crafted with no tracks to throw away, gently sang by a convincing Soord who will grow on me as the replays go. I say go with this eyes closed. It does not need a long review, it is at it is: the best album Porcupine Tree never released.

When the Porcupine is sleeping the Pineapple dances.

I've felt for sometime that Bruce Soord's lyrics were very personal and the perfect example is the "Little Man" album where you can read my feelings on the lyrics in my review and they don't get much more personal than that unless you count this one perhaps. Here we have a theme about lost love and how he has been driven to the wilderness of life, in exile, in no man's land, yes the song titles alone reveal much. It's the lyrics though that talk about a breakup and I can only assume it's about Bruce and his wife. It could be about me and my wife which of course makes this album about as personal to me as it possibly could be. There's been plenty of tears while listening to this album, it couldn't possibly be more meaningful to me or come at a better time as for the first time in my life feeling like I'm living alone in exile, in no man's land or in my wilderness. Even the cover art with the wife and daughter looking towards the wilderness is meaningful, are they looking for someone who has been sent away?

Bruce had said in an interview I read last summer that he had gotten away from his Prog roots on the last few PINEAPPLE THIEF albums and this is the recording where he has embraced his love for Prog that he's had since he was a kid. Bringing in drummer Gavin Harrison(PORCUPINE TREE) to replace recently departed drummer Dan Osborne doesn't hurt of course, in fact it's huge. Geoffrey Richardson(CARAVAN) adds strings, John Helliwell(SUPERTRAMP) adds clarinet and Darran Charles(GODSTICKS) was brought in to play the more complex guitar parts, and I noticed he was in the video for the opening track "In Exile". The results are far better than I imagined. Yes the emotional element is huge for me with the lyrics but the atmosphere is at times massive. Lots of reverb and depth to the sound. Also Bruce's vocals are different this time around as he sings in a higher register most of the time and his vocals come across as fragile much of the time, plus the vocal melodies and harmonies really add a different flavour to their sound.

"In Exile" opens with drums as the vocals and mellotron join in quickly. Nice prominent bass a minute in, harmonies too as this is quite catchy. The guitar solo before 3 minutes brings PORCUPINE TREE to mind as random drum patterns help out, then it all kicks back in. Nice. The final one plus minute is all instrumental and really enjoyable. "No Man's Land" is a top three but each tune is special in my opinion. Acoustic guitar and fragile vocals to start along with relaxed harmonies as the keys join in. Just before 2 1/2 minutes we get silence then vocal melodies and some power arrive quickly. They sort of start and stop until it kicks in hard at 3 1/2 minutes to the end. This one is so emotional for me.

"Tear You Up" is another top three. Intricate guitar work to start but it's blown away by some strong drum work and more. It then settles back with vocals. Such a moving chorus(gulp). "And now I'm drifting on the open sea, what's left of me." Checkout the heaviness 3 minutes in, so unusual for a PINEAPPLE THIEF album. So good! And it lasts for about a minute. "I can't tear you up, I cannot tear you up, all those currents run to you, back to you." "That Shore" opens with some beautiful atmosphere as drums and deep sounds join in followed by fragile vocals. Man the soundscape vibrates from the thick atmosphere. This one's all about the mood and those heart breaking lyrics.

"Take Your Shot" kicks in well before a minute but check out the bass and other sounds that it starts with. I do like the harmonies and vocal melodies on this one. It's so catchy as well. It picks up after 2 minutes, man this is good! "You held me down and took the fight to the heart of my life, you set me up all of this time, yeah you did this". "Fend For Yourself" opens with strummed guitar and reserved vocals. "Go fend for yourself, you will find me frozen in stone, with a whisper you had flown and never looked back". A melancholic clarinet solo before 2 minutes is perfect here. Vocal melodies follow as the song and lady fade away.

"The Final Thing On My Mind" is my final top three. Wow this one clocks in at almost 10 minutes. Picked guitar as drums join in then vocals before a minute. I have to say the vocal arrangements are so well done on this album. There's so much depth of sound here and those vocal melodies add so much to my enjoyment. The intensity is building before 3 1/2 minutes as the strings join in. This is insane! Then a calm with picked guitar only takes over. The vocals are back a minute later. The lyrics here break my heart all over again. "Every waking dawn it's you I see, coming back to me. Everything you did is a part of me, ripped apart from me". It kicks in after 8 1/2 minutes including some scorching guitar. "Where We Stood" ends the album in an emotional and sad way as we get strummed guitar and reserved vocals standing out. Some soaring guitar too. Again check out the lyrics.

Without question this will be near the top or right at the top of my "best of" list for 2016. Whenever music touches me like this it's almost like having a moment with God.

Another very solid, melody-rich album from these PORCUPINE TREE-inspired musicians. I like the band's choice to employ more sparse, almost acoustic instruments and more spacious arrangements of their music in support of Bruce Swoord's solid vocals. Despite the help of a nice group of guest artists--including former PT drummer, GAVIN HARRISON, the album has quite a stripped down sound from previous Pineapple Thief.

1. "In Exile" (5:10) is a pretty solid album opener. Driving, insistent, melodic. (8.5/10)

2. "No Man's Land" (4:17) a gorgeous song with the first half sounding quite similar to Damon Albarn's "Out of Time." (9.5/10)

3. "Tear You Up" (4:51) a solid song that feels very familiar from the PT discography but lacks power, punch or freshness. (8/10)

4. "That Shore" (4:52) is a very pretty, delicately textured song whose sound foundation formed during the first 35 seconds is actually the most complex part of the song! Bruce's very delicate, emotional vocal which follows is then supported by even more sparse soundscape for the first and second verses. Even the choruses are pretty low key. Atmospheric. (8/10)

5. "Take Your Shot" (4:38) a song founded on acoustic instrumentation, it has a kind of throw-back rock sound--like an 80s band like TOM PETTY, LOVE AND ROCKETS, or even a bit of TEARS FOR FEARS. (8/10)

6. "Fend for Yourself" (3:43) sounds a lot like a previous hit of theirs, "My Debt to You," only a slightly more acoustic version. I like the presence of the woodwind. (8/10)

7. "The Final Thing on My Mind" (9:53) another solid prog epic from TPT. Nice dynamic shifts. (9/10)

8. "Where We Stood" (3:45) sounds like a STEVE WILSON song (as opposed to a PT song)--but this is really the first one. Chord progression, instrument sounds, vocal stylings, song arrangement. But it's good! (8.5/10)

This band just keeps getting more and more polished . . . at doing pretty much the same thing they've been doing for over a decade now.

A solid four star album; an excellent addition to any progressive rock music collection.

The Pineapple Thief remain dedicated to their way of making music, growing in reputation and fame, though routed firmly in going way beyond just standing still , rehashing a tried and truly glorious career, but instead choose to explain away their lives, their loves , their hopes and all of their dreams. Yes, occasional nightmares and even tragedies. We survive. Somehow. Steve Wilson concentrated on the analysis of apathy, drug addiction, ignorance and of course, inner pain. All very existential. Bruce Soord prefers a more basic suffering in human terms, dealing with tragedy, loss, grief and often, discouragement. Both vistas are surely depressive but also altruistic in its desire to understand and to heal. On this monumental album, the long-awaited masterpiece has arrived, aroused by the cosmic beauty of past works such as the tragic "Little Man", and the correspondingly majestic "What We Have Sown?" . After a couple of more obscure releases, they are back to proggier realms, with insanely stellar poetry that hits hard and straight, in pure agony. The rather toned-down instrumentation is one of the finest examples of 'less is more', certainly in progressive rock terms, as these musicians simply seize the divine mood and bloom accordingly.

The somber "In Exile" is a mood setter par excellence, scouring for skin deep emotions, sensually sung by Bruce, who never sounded more mournful and penetrating. He can now join the top prog elite with the likes of Steve Wilson, Danny Cavanaugh (Anathema), Marco Gluhmann (Sylvan) and old-timers like Mark Hollis (Talk Talk) to challenge and emote on the wildest level. Incredibly infectious and deeply aggrieved, he arms himself with lyrics that tend to focus on human emotions, something we used to call 'feelings' back in the day. "Don't be afraid to miss me, don't be afraid to hate me", gulp. In exile is a sense of solitude, internal penitentiary and pensive bondage. Bruce's high pitched wail is flooded with an intense mellotron squall, ticked by deft percussives, the band barking up the Porcupine Tree.

Poignant, bold and surreal, the score is minimalist with simply dense drum work from master Gavin Harrison, a genial choice to man the rhythmic arsenal, with a spectacular display of basic percussive mastery as projected on "No Man's Land", beyond a gorgeous a song as it aims to become a hymn to the human condition. Soord croons the dejected song with complete assurance and believability, mainly because it's heartfelt as well as the consequences of his personal grief, the nature of which I will not divulge, at this time. If you want to know then research it, I guess. The song's final section is jaw-dropping, oozing atmospherics from every pore, drenched in restrained exaltation. Harrison again shows his mettle, delivering punchy accents and deft propulsion when the after burners kick in and turn this piece into an epic classic.

The volcanic "Tear you Up" is quite the entertaining ride as well, maintaining the vacillating heartache and shoving it a little harder along, articulating "a distant shore", a solitary figure "drifting on the open sea". It gets punchy with a rough guitar rasp that expresses all the agony of loss, a powerful dose of reality. Another persuasive killer track, "That Shore" has a radiating quality of near ambient desolation, a vaporous mist of infectious aromas, captained by a despair-ignited soul singer, and a melody that owes a great deal to Wilson's fabulous ballad "My Ashes", off the "Fear of a Blank Planet" manifesto. Except here, Bruce aims for the loftiest highs, his hushed voice crushingly sorrowful, the instruments at their most basic, enriching pools of pearled emotions that defy categorization. Devastating !

Two tracks destined to live well together as they focus on the follow up twin emotions to shock, known as rage and anger. Jon Sykes shows off his considerable bass guitar skills on the thus punkier "Take Your Shot" , a gallant compulsion to defend the principles behind civilized behavior by fighting back, at least with words and with imperative music. The competing hard and soft voices demonstrate clearly the deep discord and the ripping confusion, a nasty guitar slaying the beast of despondence. "It's time to make your move. Oh Yeah!". Its roommate is the equally blustery "Fend For Yourself", a clear message of survival from above, from the heavens that rule all of our fears. Terrific Harrison shuffle, an effervescent beat to liven up the soporific voice that 'never looks back", a charming clarinet solo from Supertramper John Anthony Helliwell, a kaleidoscope of simple mosaics that firmly anchor the survival mode message.

But what comes next is the true slayer of the beast of indifference, "The Final Thing On My Mind" is a masterpiece of prog, period! Mournfully melancholic, it exudes a universe where pain is transmitted within a vessel of delirious music, superbly crafted and emotionally intense. The lyrics here play a preponderant role, recalling a story of love that turned into pain and into heartbreak, a crushing admonition ultimately, acquiescence and then survival. Ughh! I can relate having my love walk away into silence, a few months ago. Not a good feeling, being so suddenly alone. So when these words hit home, I can smile and pray for salvation. "Every waking dawn it's you I see, coming back to me". Musically, its breathtaking, a very swooning entrance with an almost minimalist arrangement, pushed by the masterful Gavin Harrison's humble and yet relentless pummel. At the four minute mark, it falls into a magnificent atmospheric pool of deep ambiance, crushingly slow "Everything you did is a part of me, ripped apart from me" as mentioned already by my colleague mellotronstorm. I can feel it and I know John can too. We survive, as best we can until a new sun comes into our existence. The most beautiful melody slowly emerges from the mist, delicately caressed by a forlorn piano motif, a gut-wrenching guitar solo trails but somehow this is all very comforting. A witness to agony, we all commiserate.

The dexterously woven "Where we Stood" ends this magnificent opus, not on a positive note but rather a long look back at what once was and not anymore. A memory, a reminder of "such a beautiful feeling", scorched by a stunning but short guitar outburst.

Need to say something about the artwork, part and parcel of that fabulous No-Man album "Wild Opera" that featured vintage 60s 'America is Great' pictures, courtesy of Beech. A family wretchedly waiting for the encounter of the last kind, searching for a missing father, a missing man, lost somewhere on the upper slopes of desolation. "Your Wilderness" is also a crowning achievement for the man who should be hailed as among the very best talented drummers in the world, which is permanently seared into the grooves with stellar stick work that should impress every stripe of music fandom. He makes Bruce Soord's at times demanding music shine. Their finest album ever and maybe a permanent monument to 2016 prog, who knows? Well, not quite true, Donald Trump knows everything! But I digress. Number 1, I say!

5 Our wastelands

The first The Pineapple Thief album after the incorporation of the outstanding Gavin Harrison on drums!

And after the just ok "Magnolia", I have to say that this album was a big leap in the right direction. The complex Harrison's rhythms are perfectly harmonized with the great Soord's guitars and the songs are catchier, more diverse and harder than before, introducing great riffs which reminds a bit of Porcupine Tree, but moodier and more alternative rock oriented too.

The Soord's production of the album is also excellent, bringing this band to a whole new level and making them definitely win a well-deserved place among the best prog-rock acts today.

Good job, guys!

Best Tracks: In Exile (incredible guitars towards the end), Tear You Up (a showcase of Harrison's abilities), Take Your Shot (typical Pineapple style with another excellent guitar solo) and Fend for Yourself (great clarinet played by Supertramp's John Helliwell)

My Rating: ****