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Rating:
Recorded across various studios in England (as many as seven), "Deadwing" can be considered in some ways a sort of concept album, as it is based on a previous screenplay written collaboratively by singer Steven Wilson and Mike Bennion, who also handled the album's artwork.
The psychedelic rock with progressive tinges of the band has given up some of its space to purely metal arrangements in the style of Tool, as in "Open Car" and "Start Of Something Beautiful", with great pulsating bass work by the always talented Colin Edwin creating a staggering and syncopated rhythm; in both tracks, however, we have a final part that indulges in broader melodic openings, aimed at creating that uplifting melancholy typical of Porcupine Tree.
We also have more catchy tracks (not coincidentally the singles) like "Shallow," a fast-paced hard rock track that evokes ancient grunge ghosts in the chorus (read Alice In Chains), and "Lazarus," a soft ballad that advances on a carpet of ivory notes created by the piano.
For fans of long compositions, we have two tracks halfway through the setlist that raise the overall difficulty level: the religiously polemical (in the lyrics) "Halo," made of sharp guitars, psychedelic solos, filtered vocal breaks, and freewheeling drums hinting at psychedelic jazz-rock, and above all the masterpiece "Arriving Somewhere (But Not Here)," an introduction made of liquid psychedelia with a ticking that sets the pace before bursting into a guitar escape, while a wolf howls solo...something to try; and this is just the beginning because then it's all a succession of "trashy" arrangements, synth layers cleaning the atmosphere and lo-fi sounds up to the tortured finale with the fading voice.
The only moment of calm is the final and less successful "Glass Arm Shattering," which drags with its chanting pace, gaining a bit of tone in the finale rich in arrangements.
Great work of psychedelic more than progressive rock.
Tracklist and Lyrics
01 Deadwing (09:46)
And something warm and soft just passed through here
It took the precious things that I hold dearer
It rifled through the grey and disappeared
The creeping darkness makes the small hours clearer
Like a cancer scare
In the dentist's chair
Sucking in the air
Wire across the stair
Kicking down the door
At your local store
With the world at war
Voices through the floor
Unexpected news
Wearing high heeled shoes
Blowing out the fuse
Paying all your dues
Deadwing lullaby
Like a fracture tied
It's a worthless lie
To the public eye
I don't take waifs and strays back home with me
My bleeding heart does not extend to charity
Yes I'd have to say I like my privacy
And did you know you're on closed circuit TV?
So smile at me
And a dream you had
Of your mum and dad
On a beach somewhere
And the poison air
With the cancer threat
In a cigarette
Deadwing lullaby
Find a place to hide
And from the yellow windows of the last train
A spectre from the next life breathes his fog on the pane
I look with you into the speeding black rain Afraid to touch someone, afraid to ask her for her name
And in the morning when I find I have lost you
I throw a window open wide and step through
02 Shallow (04:16)
I don't remember
Did something in my past create a hole?
Don't use your gender
To drive a stake right through my soul
I live to function
On my own is all I know
No friends to mention
No distraction, nowhere to go
Shallow, shallow Give it to me
Scissors cutting out your anger
Shallow, shallow No good to me, not if you bleed
Bite your tongue, ignore the splinter
This city drains me
Well maybe it's the smell of gasoline
The millions pain me
It's easier to talk to my PC
03 Lazarus (04:18)
As the cheerless towns pass my window
I can see a washed out moon through the fog
And then a voice inside my head
Breaks the analogue And says
"Follow me down to the valley below
You know
Moonlight is bleeding
From out of your soul"
I survived against the will
Of my twisted folk
But in the deafness of my world
The silence broke And said
"Follow me down to the valley below
You know
Moonlight is bleeding
From out of your soul"
"My David don't you worry
This cold world is not for you
So rest your head upon me
I have strength to carry you"
(Ghosts of the twenties rising Golden summers just holding you)
"Follow me down to the valley below
You know
Moonlight is bleeding
From out of your soul
Come to us Lazarus
It's time for you to go"
04 Halo (04:38)
God is in my fingers
God is in my head
God is in the trigger
God is in the lead
God is freedom, God is truth
God is power and God is proof
God is fashion, God is fame
God gives meaning, God gives pain
You can be right like me
With God in the hole you're a righteous soul
I got a halo round me, I got a halo round me
I'm not the same as you
Cos I've seen the light and I'm gaining in height now
I got a halo round me, I got a halo round me
I got a halo round my head
God is on the cellphone
God is on the net
God is in the warning
God is in the threat
06 Mellotron Scratch (06:56)
A tiny flame inside my hand
A compromise I never planned
Unravel out the finer strands
And I'm looking at a blank page now
Should I fill it up with words somehow?
I whispered something in her ear
I bare my soul but she don't hear
The scratching of a mellotron it always seemed to make her cry
Well maybe she remembers us collecting space up in the sky
Nothing rises from my feet of clay, but it's OK
Red mist spreads across my fingertips, ardour slips
I lay her gently on my clothes
She will leave me yes I know
And I'm looking at a blank page now
Should I fill it up with words somehow?
The scratching of a mellotron it always seemed to make her cry
Well maybe she remembers us collecting space up in the sky
Nothing rises from my feet of clay, but it's OK
Red mist spreads across my fingertips, ardour slips
Don't look at me with your mother's eyes or your killer smile
Sing a lullaby
07 Open Car (03:46)
Nothing like this
Felt in her kiss
Cannot resist her
Fell for her charm
Lost in her arms
I keep a photograph
Give me a glimpse
Let me come in
Be there inside her
Here it begins
Here is the sin
Something to lie about
You think you're smart
I think you're art
We agree on this
It doesn't work
Feeling like dirt
Feeling like you don't care
We get a room
And in the gloom
She lights a cigarette
Clothes on the bed
Love me she said
I lose myself to her
I'm getting feelings
I'm hiding too well
(Bury the horse shaped shell)
Something broke inside my stomach
I let the pieces lie just where they fell
(Being with you is hell)
Hair blow in an open car
Summer dress slips down her arm
Hair blown in an open car
OK what's next?
After the sex
What do we now?
Finding the time
Drawing the line
And never crossing it
Gave her the hours
Gave her the power
Cannot erase her
Gave her the truth
Gave her the proof
I gave her everything
I'm getting feelings
I'm hiding to well
(Bury the horse shaped shell)
Something broke inside my stomach
I let the pieces lie just where they fell
(Being with you is hell)
Hair blow in an open car
Summer dress slips down her arm
Hair blown in an open car
On a drive out to the farm
Hair blown in an open car
Hair blown in an open car
Summer dress slips down your arm
Hair blown in an open car...
09 Glass Arm Shattering (06:13)
Feeling all your touching
Feeling all your blood
Feeling all your touching
Felling all your love
Seen it though a windscreen
Seen through the glass
Seen it in a bad dream
Seen it in your heart
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