Porcupine Tree are an English rock band formed by musician Steven Wilson in 1987. The band began essentially as a solo project for Wilson, who created all of the band's music. However, by 1993, Wilson desired to work in a band environment, and so brought on frequent collaborators Richard Barbieri on keyboards, Colin Edwin on bass and Chris Maitland on drums as permanent band members. With Wilson still in charge of guitar and lead vocals, this would remain the lineup until 2001, when the band recruited Gavin Harrison to replace Maitland on drums.

• Double LP Vinyl
• Pressed at Optimal Media in Germany
• Gatefold Cover 

Porcupine Tree's early sound evokes a style of psychedelic rock comparable to that of progressive rock band Pink Floyd. Upon signing with Kscope record label in the late 1990s, the band approached a more mainstream alternative rock sound. By the early 2000s, the band signed to a major record label and shifted their sound again, this time in a more progressive metal direction.

After the release and tour in support of their tenth studio album, The Incident, the band became inactive as Wilson began to focus on his solo career. While not formally broken up, they also have no particular reformation plans beyond "someday", with members all working on separate projects, and Wilson committing himself to his solo work through most of 2015.


The seeds of the idea that led to The Incident came to Steven Wilson whilst caught up in a motorway traffic jam driving past an accident. "There was a sign saying 'police - incident' and everyone was slowing down to rubber neck what had happened," he recalls. "Afterwards, it struck me that 'incident' is a very detached word for something so destructive and traumatic for the people involved. Then I had the sensation that the spirit of someone that had died in the car accident entered into my car and was sitting next to me."

"The irony of such a cold expression for such seismic events appealed to me, and I began to pick out other 'incidents' reported in the media and news," continues Wilson. "I wrote about the evacuation of teenage girls from a religious cult in texas, a family terrorizing its neighbours, a body found floating in a river by some people on a fishing trip, and more. Each song was written in the first person and tried to humanize the detached media reportage." Additionally, Wilson delved back into incidents in his own life that had profoundly affected him, including a lost childhood friendship, a séance, his first love, and the day that he decided to give up secure employment to follow his dream of making music. The album's epic song, an 11-minute Pink Floyd flavoured masterpiece called Time Flies, for instance, begins with the line: "I was born in 1967." 1967 was possibly the most significant year in the history of rock music; Sergeant Pepper by The Beatles and the first albums by Jimi Hendrix, Pink Floyd, and The Doors were all released that year," says Steven. "I found myself wondering whether those facts were significant Maybe it's why i ended up becoming a musician?"

Pushed for a succinct description Wilson calls The Incident: "A slightly surreal song cycle about beginnings and endings and the sense that 'after this, things will never be the same again'." The self-produced album is completed by four standalone compositions from band writing sessions last December - Flicker, Bonnie The Cat, Black Dahlia, and Remember Me Lover.


Track Listing:

Side A
01. Occam's Razor (1.55)
02. The Blind House (5.47)
03. Great Expectations (1.26)
04. Kneel And Disconnect (2.03)
05. Drawing The Line (4.43)

Side B
06. The Incident (5.20)
07. Your Unpleasant Family (1.48)
08. The Yellow Windows Of The Evening Train (2.00)
09. Time Flies (11.40)

Side C
10. Degree Zero Of Liberty (1.45)
11. Octane Twisted (5.03)
12. The Seance (2.39)
13. Circle Of Manias (2.18)
14. I Drive The Hearse (6.41)

Side D
15. Flicker (3.42)
16. Bonnie The Cat (5.45)
17. Black Dahlia (3.40)
18. Remember Me Lover (7.28)

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