Porcupine Tree
Up The Downstair

THE REVIEW

First of all, hats off….

Steven Wilson presents us with this album (the second, for the record), a masterful performance, well played and well recorded. Let's proceed in order, the first chapter of the Porcupine was a series of home recordings, then put together on "in the sunday of life". In this work, the future members of Porcupine Tree, namely Barbieri, Edwin, Maitland, also start to make themselves heard.

It begins with a short intro "What you are listening", which explains with a phrase at the end, the journey the listener is about to embark on. "Synesthesia" officially paves the way for the album with a bang. A tight start with a wha wha effect and a Wilson in perfect form. "Monument burns into moments", a 22-second piece of rather filler psychedelia. "Always never" gives you goosebumps, a ballad with whispered voice and sweet echoes, with a melodic and functional chorus…rock explosion and return to sweetness…a must.
"Up the downstair", a small 10-minute suite, throws us into a world of pure psychedelia, very dark, I would say, until a very spatial bass attack, framed by hard rock guitar riffs, with a robotic finale.

"Not beautiful anymore", opens with a very strong rhythm starting with a very powerful bass line to which all the group members gradually add themselves for 3 minutes of powerful "genetically modified" hard rock. "Siren" is another piece of about a minute in which the psychedelic component resurfaces as if it had been buried to ferry us to "Small fish". This piece is of highly delicate nature, in which Wilson once again proves himself as a creator of wonderful and dreamy melodies, like the guitar solo that echoes through unending spaces (it's as if one is truly flying). "Burning Sky" is another mini suite of 11 minutes where inside, Wilson engages with a continuously repeating riff. Rock is present in the right dose, just to let ill-intentioned know, that they can also create stunning Rock music. To finish the album, no better song could have been chosen, "Fadeaway" opens the listener's eyes again with ethereal atmospheres, and a guitar always in the foreground, spatial and infinite.

Try to get a copy, to truly understand what it means to listen to a great band and to give proper honor to a band that, in my opinion, is still too underrated. Thank you!