Steven Wilson

Steven Wilson ranks among Britain's most celebrated and productive musicians, distinguished by his rigorous dedication to his craft. Shifting incrementally from underground recognition earned through Porcupine Tree, Bass Communion, No-Man, and Blackfield, he reached mainstream visibility as a solo artist charting in the new millennium with Grace for Drowning in 2011, The Raven That Refused to Sing and Other Stories in 2013, and the Top 40 prog-pop concept album Hand.Cannot.Erase in 2015. The six-track mini album 4½ came next, followed in 2017 by To the Bone, a set that revealed his enduring affection for progressive pop. That direction extended into The Future Bites in 2021, which merged several pop idioms, and then into The Harmony Codex in 2023, captured while working alone.

Born in Kingston Upon Thames in London in 1967, Wilson resolved to build a life in music after absorbing his parents' Pink Floyd and Donna Summer records, and by age 12 he had already begun testing varied guitar and recording methods.

Following time spent in several ensembles, among them psychedelic duo Altamont, prog rockers Karma, and new wave band Pride of Passion, Wilson established art pop outfit No Man with vocalist Tim Bowness in 1987 and launched his celebrated project Porcupine Tree the same year; he moved between the two, issuing 16 albums in total from 1991 to 2009. Even with those sustained obligations, Wilson still managed additional ventures in the '90s, producing material as ambient electronica act Bass Communion, Krautrock revivalists Incredible Expanding Mindfuck, and Blackfield, a partnership with Israeli rock star Aviv Geffen.

Demonstrating his range, he also turned into a sought-after producer, shaping recordings by Norwegian jazz vocalist Anja Garbarek, prog metallers Orphaned Land, and former Marillion frontman Fish; a music reviewer for Rolling Stone and Classic Rock magazine; and a guest vocalist on albums by Pendulum, Dream Theater, and Jordan Rudess. Starting in 2003, Wilson began exploring a solo path, issuing several two-track singles that paired an original piece with a cover version (of tracks first recorded by Alanis Morissette, ABBA, and Prince), yet only in 2008 did he deliver his debut solo album, Insurgentes, whose sessions later served as the focus of a documentary/road movie by Danish photographer Lasse Hoile.

His second solo release, Grace for Drowning, a double-CD pairing two albums titled Deform to Form a Star and Like Dust I Have Cleared from My Eye, arrived in 2011. He launched his first solo tour that same year and was invited to remix the King Crimson catalog while collaborating with Opeth lead singer Mikael Åkerfeldt on an album issued under the name Storm Corrosion. Get All You Deserve, an audio-video package documenting his 2011 tour (with a crack band), surfaced late in 2012.

Wilson then commenced focused writing for his new ensemble (which featured former Miles Davis keyboardist Adam Holzman and lead guitarist Guthrie Govan). The Raven That Refused to Sing and Other Stories functions as a conceptual piece drawn from a sequence of linked short stories authored by Wilson or co-authored with Hajo Mueller. Wilson also persuaded Alan Parsons out of semi-retirement to co-produce and engineer the collection, which appeared in early 2013. In October of that year he issued the audio-video concert set Drive Home. The package included a new animated video for the title track as well as "The Raven That Refused to Sing," two new songs, and a concert from an earlier tour in Frankfurt.

During summer 2014 Wilson released Cover Version, an album assembled from six singles recorded between 2003 and 2010 and first issued separately on his Headphone Dust label. Each single placed a pop cover on the A-side and an original on the flip; every track was performed entirely solo. Late in 2014 Wilson began discussing and previewing Hand. Cannot. Erase., a concept album directly and metaphorically drawn from the actual circumstances of Joyce Vincent, a London woman who died and whose body, encircled by undelivered Christmas presents, remained undiscovered for two years even though she possessed many friends and acquaintances. It appeared in March 2015. Later that year a double-vinyl compilation of Wilson's more accessible pop/rock material was issued as Transience.

Wilson took his all-star band—Holzman, Govan, Nick Beggs, Dave Kilminster, Craig Blundell, Marco Minnemann, Chad Wackerman, and Theo Travis—on a sold-out European tour. After a brief pause he and the band returned to the Hand. Cannot. Erase. sessions, completing four songs that originated there plus one from his prior album, The Raven That Refused to Sing. He also re-recorded "Don't Hate Me," first cut by Porcupine Tree in 1998. He named the 37-minute-long album 4½ because it served as an interim release between Hand. Cannot. Erase. and an upcoming studio project. It emerged in January 2016 amid the band's European and American tours.

In May the following year Wilson announced his fifth solo album and debut for Caroline, To the Bone, stating that it was "inspired by the hugely ambitious progressive pop records that I loved in my youth (think Peter Gabriel's So, Kate Bush's Hounds of Love, Talk Talk's Colour of Spring, and Tears for Fears' Seeds of Love)." The first of four pre-release videos was "Pariah," featuring Israeli vocalist Ninet Tayeb. Another, "Song of I," highlighted Sophie Hunger as a guest. Wilson then turned to his sixth solo album, examining questions of identity and technology. He noted in press materials that it "picks apart our 21st century utopia, while also allowing for moments of personal growth and optimism though dance, music, electronica and pop." The finished album, titled The Future Bites, appeared in January 2021. He recorded his next collection in isolation with remote contributions from Ninet Tayeb, Adam Holzman, Sam Fogarino, and others. The Harmony Codex was released in September 2023.