EATING.SEATS

— First review of this album —

Hey, Porcupine Tree fans....

If Closure/Continuation left you a bit cold or underwhelmed in 2022, if you've longed for an album that evokes what you felt in the days of Stupid Dream and Deadwing, you might wish to check out an Italian release from 2023 called Church. The oddly named eating.seats released their debut back in 2008, and it sounded a bit like an homage to early Pink Floyd with their own twist. Very promising debut. It would take 15 years for their follow-up second album to drop, but the results are worth the wait. And if you happen to be a fan of early-2000s Porcupine Tree, you are gonna need to hear this one.

Honestly, if you asked AI to create you an album that sounded like early/mid 2000s Porcupine Tree but with a slight Italian accent on the vocal, I suspect it might sound like Church. In no way is that intended as disrespect to eating.seats. I'm simply trying to give a quick general understanding of their sound, and that's what I hear. The fact is that I love this album. The songs are heavy and rocking, the moods melancholy but hopeful, dreamy. I feel as if I have found some lost PT album that evokes some of the pleasure I remember when I heard stuff like Deadwing and Fear of a Blank Planet and Stupid Dream for the first time all those years ago. Not only does the guitar style mirror the hyper-smooth/slight fuzz/heavy riffing of PT, but the vocalist sounds a bit similar to Wilson as well. They even layer on the gorgeous harmony technique Wilson perfected on those albums. The last track deviates the most from this sound, moving to a fairly traditional post-rock shimmering/swelling buildup and release. It's an effective closer that brings things down a notch from what is generally a pretty heavy album.

This is a thoroughly satisfying album for fans of spacey, heavy, modern prog in the Wilson-esque universe of sound. Kudos for the very XTC/Dukes of Stratosphear sounding song titles which amused me.

— First review of this album —

This album certainly has its share of Pink Floyd influences and references. The vocals are reminiscent of early, psychedelic-era Floyd as in, for example, "See Emily Play". At other times however, the vocals remind me of the half-sung, half-spoken style of Deluge Grander on their "August in the Urals" album. Floyd influences aside, the vocal style is very unique, and upon first listening you might be slightly taken aback, as I was. But it grew on me, and I'm fully engaged with it. The electric guitar playing certainly exhibits David Gilmore's style. And there are a few other Floyd influences, noted in my track notes below...

1. Secrets About September. This piece begins with a slow-paced, somewhat foreboding, swirl of spacey synths supporting breathy, non-spoken vocals. The music slowly morphs into a more structured song as percussion, bass and guitar emerge from the swirl, climax in a swell of wordless vocals and backing, then diminish before being suddenly sucked into abrupt nothingness. The guitar work throughout is very Gilmorean.

2. Kelso. A growling space monster leads you into a brief, symphonic-prog sound track, followed by a slowly picked guitar, rambling over the steady strokes of a brushed snare drum rhythm. Airy vocals, reminiscent of early Floyd, emerge in a somewhat odd, unidentifiable musical scale. Midway thru, the tempo picks up with the guitar starting out softly picked, then changing to an edgy, metal-tempered style. A long-sustained and distorted guitar runs over some psychedelic keyboard noodling, before returning to the same slowly picked guitar motif, brushed snare rhythm, and airy vocals that started it off.

3. The Colour of Eternity. This piece begins with swirling synths and the almost spoken vocals in the style of early Deluge Grander. The song structure, still reminiscent of early Floyd replete with Gilmorean guitar, is the most traditional song-like structure so far on the album. And if that weren't enough Floyd references, the piece ends with the "tolling of the iron bell" albeit somewhat distorted.

4. Who Has Got The Last Laugh Now? Wails of trapped psychotic souls, the words in their heads leaking out, greets you at the beginning of this track. An electric guitar with long sustained notes sets an eerie backdrop. Stark brash strums of an electro-acoustic guitar interrupt the psychasm, then mutate into a mildly metallic interlude, before commencing with wonderful mid-tempo, melodic vocals -- perhaps the catchiest vocal melody on the album. Then the ersatz Gilmore takes us out with a wonderful guitar climax at the end.

5. Heppet Et Noru Dest. You're at someone's house. A pleasant upright piano plays in the background, while an unintelligible discussion takes place in the kitchen as someone is washing up the dishes. That is literally it. A reference to Alan's Psychedelic Breakfast, maybe?

6. Who Painted The Sky? This is a nice, rambling, slow-paced number with traditional percussion leading a repetitive guitar arpeggio with backing keys and bass. The inimitable vocals build to a swelling, layered vocal chorus, before being replaced with a picked guitar carrying the melody forward. The backing elements fade, as the picked guitar, becoming more airy and echoey, takes us out.

7. Postman. Think "Money" (the track from "Dark Side of the Moon"). An alarm bell goes off. The snooze button triggers a driving guitar with pulsating bass & percussion. Catchy vocals frame the psychedelic feel. This is a head-nodding, foot-tapping, and sing-along (if I knew the words) kind of piece. Half way thru the rhythm section takes to the foreground, with guitars riffing and vamping in the background. A female voice begins presenting the days news, in German, in a flat, matter-of-fact kind of style typical of a radio newscaster. But as the piece continues, the reader's voice slowly becomes more and more agitated until it becomes downright angry and dramatic, ending with a sigh of relief. It's Monday, after all.

8. Who Painted the Sky? (Reprise). Simple piano chords back a nice prototypical vocal and Gilmorean guitar with no percussion. Then the drums and bass kick in, accompanied by soaring unspoken vocals in the style of Floyd's "The Great Gig in the Sky" -- albeit with less gospel influence. A nice finish.

Plenty of Floyd influences, without sounding copycat-ish or derivative. Eating.Seats have a unique style -- one that grows on you. This is a very good work, and you can download it for free from their website! Essential? Maybe not. But certainly fun, enjoyable, and well executed. I give it 3.5 to 4 stars.