SIGNIFY

4.5 stars. There is no secret that I love this band. One of my top three bands of all time. I agree that this is a transitional record of sorts, leading us to the next one "Stupid Dream". This one does feature some song oriented tunes ala "Stupid Dream", but mostly we get spacey, psychedelic songs like past records.The cover art is very cool as well. I have the double disc with the second disc consisting of demos from this album as well as some earlier ones.

"Bornlivedie" is the intro track that opens with a sample of a guy telling us to sit back, get a coffee and enjoy the music. The rest of this tune is very atmospheric and spacey. I really like the sound. "Signify" is a real rocking instrumental that goes over well when played live. It's the synths though that make this song a favourite of mine. "The Sleep Of No Dreaming" is a gorgeous song, with a mellow opening that kicks in at the chorus. The contrasts continue. Mellotron flows through this one. Great track ! "Pagan" is a short spacey instrumental of synths, samples and drums. "Waiting Phase One" is one of my all time favourite PORCUPINE TREE songs. It's so dreamy and Mr.Wilson adds some excellent guitar playing. A nice beat as Steven sings calmly "Nothing is what I feel, waiting for the drugs to make it real". Check out the guitar before 3 1/2 minutes. "Waiting Phase Two" is spacey as percussion comes in. Piano comes and goes. Hammond organ in this one as well. A fuller sound 4 minutes in and guitar comes in. Nice. This is very psychedelic. It settles 5 1/2 minutes in as the beat stops. "Sever" is another highlight for me, especially the pastoral sections, and again it's so spacey and dreamy. Love the line "No sense of time, sever tomorrow". "Idiot Prayer" features lush keyboards and almost industrial like drums. The guitar makes some noise after a minute. Heavy drums 2 1/2 minutes in. Some vocal samples join in. The guitar is great 3 1/2 minutes in and it settles a minute later with some spacey synths. Nice. It kicks back in after 6 minutes. "Every Home is Wired" is again a spacey tune that I love. I feel like i'm a broken record in describing many of these songs as "dreamy and spacey", but they are. This one becomes very psychedelic and experimental 3 1/2 minutes in to end it. "Intermediate Jesus" opens with a sample of a preacer preaching. A psychedelic soundscape comes in with drums, piano, bass, guitars and synths leading the way. "Light Mass Prayers" features lots of atmosphere as slow moving waves of sound wash in throughout. "Dark Matter" is another favourite of mine, it's quite spacey with a beat. Dreamy one minute heavy the next, and check out the guitar around 6 minutes. It ends with the line "You've just had a heavy session of electro-shock therapy, and your more relaxed than you've been in weeks. All those childhood traumas wiped away, along with most of your personality." Haha.

My top four tracks would be "Waiting Phase One", Sever", "Dark Matter" and "Every Home Is Wired". So yeah, if you like spacey and dreamy psychedelic music with a little variety thrown in, well...you know the deal, you should check it out. Hey ! It's PORCUPINE TREE !