New York, NY - Grammy-nominated UK recording artist Porcupine Tree have confirmed the title of their tenth studio album: The Incident. The captivating new record is set to be released on Roadrunner Records on September 22, as a double CD.

The Incident is a stunning 55-minute musical statement, described by vocalist/guitarist/songwriter Steven Wilson as “a slightly surreal song cycle about beginnings and endings and the sense that ‘after this, things will never be the same again.’” The seeds of the idea that led to The Incident came to Wilson as he became caught up in a highway traffic jam while driving past an accident.

“There was a sign saying ‘POLICE – INCIDENT’ and everyone was slowing down to rubber neck to see 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. And then I had the sensation that the spirit of someone that had died in the 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 neighbors, a body found floating in a river by some people on a fishing trip, and more. Each song is written in the first person and tries 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 self-produced album is completed by four standalone compositions that developed out of band writing sessions last December – “Flicker,” “Bonnie The Cat,” “Black Dahlia” and “Remember Me Lover” – housed on a separate CD to stress their independence from the title track.

Porcupine Tree – completed by Gavin Harrison (drums), Colin Edwin (bass), and Richard Barbieri (keyboards) – took a video camera into the recording studio, capturing a few moments to share with fans. Explore the behind-the-scenes footage here.

Coming to the recording sessions following his first ever solo album, November 2008’s Insurgentes, Wilson admits that the experience of having worked alone affected the direction of The Incident. “Possibly because of having done that, this record is darker, expansive, and more experimental,” he theorizes. “But when I write for Porcupine Tree, I know the sound I’m after.”

OK here is the low down on the listening party and "The Incident" :
 
The Incident consists of 14 songs/interludes that make up the entire piece. I was told that most of what I am about to tell you was forthcoming in a press release by Road Runner, so they weren't too overly concerned about this info leaking a few days early to all you die hard hobbits !
 
So here it is:
 
Occam's Razor 1:55
The Blind House 5:47
Great Expectations 1:26
Kneel and Disconnect 2:03
Drawing the Line 4:43
The Incident 5:20
Your Unpleasant Family 1:48
The Yellow Windows of the Evening Train 2:00
Time Flies 11:40
Degree Zero of Liberty 1:45
Octane Twisted 5:03
The Séance 2:39
Circle of Manias 2:18
I Drive the Hearse 6:41
 
All tracks by SW except Octane Twisted and Circle of Manias which are group compositions (besides the 4 other pieces on the separate ep). 
 
Like I posted this AM, I truly do not know what to make of the new PT. It was almost too overwhelming to take in at one sitting, and for me, certainly NOT a CD/LP I could just sit down and immediately come away with a definitive impression of from the moment I heard it. In most cases, for me anyway, this is normally a very good thing, as many of my all time fave records were ones that I wasn't immediately struck by, but I am not sure if this is how it will play out with the new PT, and I did not get a promo copy so I'll have to sit it out like everyone else until the CD is released to get my next listen...
 
Of the tracks I remember specifically, Time Flies (which I mentioned is very Floydian, but still very much a PT sounding track) was probably the most immediately memorable. It's not uber proggy, but it does reference Dogs and Time liberally (and bits of Run Like Hell and Sheep as well), but still sounds very contemporary and cool !!!! Steven told me this piece was specifically inspired by his childhood/growing up etc. 
 
The Blind House was pretty immediate as well, retro PT acoustic references, harmonies, with some very heavy sustained guitar histrionics as well. 
 
Circle of Manias is the real powerhouse riff monster (along with Octane Twisted if memory serves me right) with tons of Meshuggah-like riffs clashing and crashing along in a torrent of angular time changes and odd meters. This has a similar vibe to Mother and Child Divided, but is much heavier and more angular and f**ked up... Oh, yeah, on this one, SW plays a new Baritone guitar that PRS made for him exclusively ! 
 
Drive the Hearse was actually a surprise, as I expected it to be dark and heavy to coincide with the lyrics and song title, but it's not. It's more "song oriented" with a memorable chorus and some really lovely acoustic moments backed with some spooky/eerie synth textures and a soaring solo fade out...
 
The other track that really got my attention was The Incident, which is, well crushingly funky (as in heavy electronica funk), this song is twisted and really will kick ass live I am betting... Lot's of weird synthy textures and if I had to point to any specific reference point it would be Sleep Together, but without all the strings. This track is more streamlined and stealthy... 
 
Only one major disconnect for me that stood out from the listening session, and that was Drawing the Line. This might be the first PT song I can honestly say I immediately did NOT like much at all right away... Not digging the chorus at all and actually felt uncomfortable listening to it, which was a weird experience. It may grow on me , but somehow I doubt it... Please don't let my opinion cloud yours though when you finally get and opportunity to check it out !
 
The rest of the experience is all just too fuzzy at this point, sleep deprivation is clouding my memory and judgment so I'll stop there on my review of the individual and the whole...
 
Again, I think this is definitely a situation where it's going to take a few listens for me to fully wrap my head around and appreciate what is going on in this new release... I will say this though, it was my impression that this music was definitely inspired by and influenced by SW's experiences making Insurgentes. I can't put my finger on it, but I had a distinct feeling that Insurgentes had a profound effect on his writing for this new PT project. Perhaps it's just me, but we shall see....
 
A couple of tidbits extra.
 
In the video the opening sequence of guitar chords is from Occam's Razor which opens the album, and the synthy freak out bits Richard is playing is (I believe) from The Incident. Also, the acoustic bit SW's is playing is from Time Flies. The rest of the snippets of music are too short and detached from the rest of the recordings for me to place after just one sitting. 
 
Oh one last juicy bit....
 
Another city/venue will be added in the coming days for the 9/26. There will NOT be another NYC show, however, there will be another East Coast show within a 4 hr drive of NYC. Won't say whether it's N or S of NY, but if you think real hard you should be able to narrow it down to one or two places...
 
Probably a lot more to tell, but just too burnt out to remember at present...
 
SoD

Contd:
 
I am sure more will be revealed soon enough. SW told us that there will be more "guitars" on this tour than ever before... Probably a million other things I am now forgetting, but that's it for now...
 
Hope all you monkey's are excited and satisfied with the field report... !! ) 
 
SoD

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Are there instrumentals songs and guitar solos? Did you hear some flute? (like in Don't Hate Me or Revenant)

Yep a fair amount of them. Occam's, The Yellow Windows, Degree Zero, most of Octane Twisted, and Circle of Manias are all intrustumentals. Yep quite a bit of solo guitar, many understated and sublime, and no on the Flute !
 
No guest musicians either by the way before it's asked, although a note about additional guitar recording at Red Room Recorders by Wes 
 
More later
SoD

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Are the songs independent tracks or are they all connected in some way and flow as just one long track (a la Anesthetize)

Similar to Anesthetize, in other words there are no gaps or silence, but it's not as thought these interludes or connective pieces aren't separate pieces unto themselves either... Truthfully it's hard to explain after only one listen and I was trying to follow the narrative of the lyrics/story and their connectivity to the music... Wish I could explain it better, but that's the best I can do really...
 
SoD

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There's been a lot of "I'd like them to do something like IA/Signify/ FOABP etc again", so can this do you think be classified in terms of earlier work at all? or is this a radical new departure?

I think I heard elements of all of those records in The Incident, but remember we are talking SW and the whole is a sum of the parts and this is not different. The PT personality is there, the old and the new, the borrowed and the blue etc etc ...  However, I honestly couldn't look any of you in the face and make the statement: It sounded like Signify, or Stupid Dream, or Fear, because I heard elements of all of those recordings in there last night, but I also heard some things I hadn't directly heard on a PT album before ...
 
I do know I heard a sh*t load of Floyd in Time Flies, but that is NOT a bad thing and it was, according to SW, without question intentional ! Still, it was done in a way that was entirely within the character of PT if that makes any sense...
 
Again, the only major new element (and it's not really new, but let's say a bit more experimental for the sake of "giving it a name", was the influence of Insurgentes, which again is an SW product so the apple is not going to fall on the other side of the world from the tree if you get my metaphor...
 
I wish I could fully encapsulate my impressions of the album into words that would help you to better envision what it sounded like to me last night, but it's just not happening , and besides, it's all about what YOU all think of it when you finally get to hear it... 
 
OK, so with that said, I am not going to make any further statements about my impressions of the music because I do not want to over think or over engineer my own thoughts at this point and I definitely do not want my impressions to overtly influence any one else's experience...
 
Hope that helps a little moonlight ...
 
SoD

And comment by some other guy:

Overall I agree with a lot of what you said. The Incident was a lot to absorb at once but I really came away thinking it was good. I also agree about I Drive the Hearse being a surprise, I was half expecting him to go for his first death metal growl based on the lyrics.
 
I think the thing that struck me the most was the massive difference between The Incident and Flicker. The Incident is really experimental, and as I said to SW, is sure to turn some heads.