Thursday, September 15, 2011

#38: Porcupine Tree - Signify

Release Year: 1996

Porcupine Tree is a band that had several distinct eras.  Signify came at the tail end of their psychedelic period, and featured more structure than Up The Downstair or The Sky Moves Sideways, but still was about half instrumental.

This is my favorite Porcupine Tree prior to their 2001-or-so hiatus.  The atmosphere is excellent, the songwriting is superb, and, as you would expect from psychedelic rock music, there are some great bass grooves.

There are really only five songs with lyrics and singing, and that's kind of what makes this awesome.  You have songs like "Waiting Phase One" with a nice vocal melody, followed up with "Waiting Phase Two," which is just an instrumental continuation of the same bass groove.  You have songs like "Every Home Is Wired," which is an early display of Steven Wilson's superior vocal layering technique.  And, finally, you have the last one, "Dark Matter," which is one of my top 5 Porcupine Tree songs, and one I never, ever get sick of hearing.

This is not the first Porcupine Tree album you should listen to, but it one of the best.

Standout tracks:
  • Dark Matter
  • Waiting Phase One
  • Idiot Prayer
  • Every Home Is Wired 

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