Something Else! sneak peek: Steven Wilson, "Luminol" (2012)

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Even as Steven Wilson reenters the studio with legendary engineer Alan Parsons to record his third solo LP, fans are getting a sneak peek at one of project’s new songs.

A forthcoming concert DVD called Get All You Deserve, recorded on the fifth concert of a 26-show run at Mexico City’s Teatro Metropólitan, features among its 16 tracks the debut of “Luminol,” an epic original to be included on the next Wilson record.

Wilson, who released the Grammy-nominated Grace for Drowning last September, appears on stage with guitarist Niko Tsonev, keyboardist Adam Holzman, bassist Nick Beggs, drummer Marco Minnemann and flute/sax player Theo Travis.

[SOMETHING ELSE! INTERVIEW: Steven Wilson dropped by to talk about classic 1970s sounds, prog’s rebirth and his amazing album ‘The Raven.’]

Holzman was a sideman with Miles Davis, having appeared on Tutu, and has also played with Chaka Khan, Robben Ford and Grover Washington Jr. Tsonev has previously played with JJ Grey’s Mofro, while Beggs was a member of the 1980s band Kajagoogoo. Minnemann has recorded and toured with Eddie Jobson, Andy Partridge, Adrian Belew, Terry Bozzio, Mike Keneally and Chad Wackerman, among others.

Wilson, in a new conversation with MusicRadar.com’s Joe Bosso, says “Luminol” was the first time he had written specifically with his current band in mind.

Having become comfortable with their strengths, Wilson tells Bosso that he felt ready to compose something that “really stretches these guys.”

“‘Luminol’ was the first example of that,” Wilson says. “I’ve written the whole of the next record now, so there’s a lot more music.”

Already, Wilson says, “Luminol” has become one of his solo band’s most popular songs, based on audience reaction over the last year.

“That blew me away,” Wilson tells Bosso, “because usually when you say, ‘We’re going to play something new,’ that’s when the audience is like, ‘Play something we know.’ You know – ‘We’ll patiently wait while you play your new song, but we really want to hear the old stuff.'”

Get All You Deserve is due on September 25. You can pre-order it below.

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Here’s a look back at our recent thoughts on Steven Wilson, and his bands Blackfield and Porcupine Tree. Click through the titles for complete reviews …

SHOWS I’LL NEVER FORGET: STEVEN WILSON, APRIL 4, 2012: Ever since discovering him about three years ago as something of a late bloomer, I have thoroughly immersed myself in the extremely prolific Mr. Wilson’s various musical projects, including Blackfield, No-Man, Bass Communion — even the super obscure shit like Incredible Expanding Mindfuck — and of course, Wilson’s most commercially viable project, the great prog-metal band Porcupine Tree. To say Steven Wilson is the hardest working man in show business, left carrying the torch for the rapidly dying art-form of prog-rock, would be an understatement and then some. In between juggling his numerous bands, Wilson also occasionally slums as a producer on projects ranging from death-metal acts like Opeth, to remixing classics from his rock idols like King Crimson, Jethro Tull, and Rush. In short, the guy is a musical genius.

BLACKFIELD – LIVE IN NYC (2007): It wasn’t enough that we got not only the amazing Blackfield II album, and one great album and an equally great EP from Steven Wilson’s main band, Porcupine Tree (Fear of a Blank Planet and Nil Recurring, respectively) in 2007, we then got this live DVD to sate the desires of fans clamoring for more — because we always are. Wilson and bandmate Aviv Geffen, along with longtime band director/artist Lasse Hoile, filmed this show in New York (you know, hence the name) and it lives up to last year’s Porcupine Tree DVD, Arriving Somewhere, in all respects.

PORCUPINE TREE – FEAR OF A BLANK PLANET (2007): It might be easy to go on and on about the themes of isolation that waft through Blank Planet‘s lyrics, but for me, it’s all about one thing: the music. Honestly, sometimes the lyrics are a little pedestrian and it’s not like this isn’t a topic that hasn’t been covered a million times before. They’re simply excuses for Steven Wilson to lay down some of those gorgeous harmony choruses. But back to the music: Wilson cranks things up a bit here, and, as I said above, he seemingly has split off the pop-side of the band to Blackfield, so Porcupine Tree can focus on the darker, heavier, grittier, and weirder stuff.

BLACKFIELD – BLACKFIELD II (2007): A lot of hay has been made of Porcupine Tree’s 2007 release Fear Of A Blank Planet, and yes, I’ve joined in the fray. It’s a solid effort from a band that hadn’t stumbled much to begin with. But PT’s leader Steven Wilson is just too talented to stand pat with Fear being his only contribution for this year. For the second time in about as many years, he’s gotten together with Israeli singer/songwriter Aviv Geffen to collaborate on a more mellow, mainstream sounding album than Wilson’s prog rock alter ego. The incredible thing is that “more mainstream” didn’t mean any real drop off in artistic quality.

Something Else!