LIGHTBULB SUN

As most of us know, Porcupine Tree has had a pretty great career! Starting with the collection of random psychedelic songs, On the Sunday of Life... and moving all the way up to their latest output, Fear of a Blank Planet, Porcupine Tree has made quite some notable albums. This album is no exception! Lightbulb Sun (along with Stupid Dream) is where they took more conventional pop styles and combined their signature psychedelic sound to make a sort of "progressive pop" record. Don't be fooled though, this is no radio friendly album.

Things kick off with an upbeat acoustic intro to the title track. The song flows nicely with switching acoustic and electric guitars all the way through. The melodies here are beautiful and catchy yet they have a strangely psychedelic feel. The album continues with a sort of "linking" track How Is Your Life Today. A short piano, piece, nothing spectacular, but it serves it's purpose.

Four Chords That Made a Million is probably my only complaint about the album. It's not a bad song, it just doesn't quite fit in with the rest. There is a very melancholic aura over the album that just doesn't seem present in this song. Everything is back on course again though, once Shesmovedon begins. This song is one of the greatest highlights of the album, and of Porcupine Tree's entire catelog. Just listen to the incredible outro solo and you'll instantly know this is a uniquely amazing album.

The unique blend of pop and psychedelia continues through the whole album taking the listener on a journey through another world. In my opinion, the best albums are always the ones that make you completely forget the where and the when and just allow the listener to float into another dimension. Each and every PT album does this with great effectiveness, however are all different from one another.

While reviewing this album, I couldn't decide whether or not to give it 4 stars or 5 stars. A simple 4 doesn't seem to do it justice, as most albums do not absorb me like this one. But compared to In Absentia and The Sky Moves Sideways, which I believe to be complete masterpieces of music, this album doesn't quite reach up with those. However I believe Russia On Ice to be the deciding the factor here. One of the greatest achievements in PT's career. This song is a tour de force. One of those songs that seems to last only a single moment. All time and space is left behind.

Feel So Low sums up the album, and very well. A nice melancholy track, that leaves the listener just craving more PT and wondering how someone could create such genius melodies. If anyone ever had a doubt they could be highly melodic and sophisticated at the same time, this album would show them otherwise.

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