Jimmy Higgins
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- Jan 31, 2001
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Steven Wilson has released his latest album with his jazz buds. The effort is called Hand Cannot Erase.
The premise of the album is the story of an elderly woman that died in an apartment but wasn't noticed for three years. The tale notes that while she died alone, she was a child, she was a mother, an aunt, she had a life. She wasn't always this old woman that became forgotten.
Steven Wilson has made a career with sad depressing lyrics. Sometimes he outdoes himself. The last album had The Raven That Refused to Sing, an old man who is near death, desperate to hear the singing voice of his long lost sister of whom he lost when they were still kids. This album gives us Happy Returns, which, while seemingly full of hyperbole, is more depressing than Stop Swimming, Octane Twisted, and the Raven That Refused to Sing combined. It is that powerful.
Often, Wilson creates stories with his songs, but Hand Cannot Erase goes beyond a story. It is a reality that has occurred for some, a reality that may occur to you (the listener). I have always enjoyed his music, but this is his first album that makes you think about your own life. The steps within it, the steps to come. The steps of other lives. Where we put the value. I've always pondered the day in - day out routine of life, about how much of life is wasted waiting for later.
And this is all before we talk about the actual music, which is finely crafted, played by grossly awesome musicians. The lyrics themselves are haunting, story telling, entrapping. The vocal harmonies are nothing less than what one comes to expect in a Steven Wilson album. Wilson engineered the album, so it sounds as perfect as it possibly can.
This album will be the best album in 2015 not to make it above the radar, being pushed aside by shallow music critics that put forth less thought worthy material as the prized material.
The premise of the album is the story of an elderly woman that died in an apartment but wasn't noticed for three years. The tale notes that while she died alone, she was a child, she was a mother, an aunt, she had a life. She wasn't always this old woman that became forgotten.
Steven Wilson has made a career with sad depressing lyrics. Sometimes he outdoes himself. The last album had The Raven That Refused to Sing, an old man who is near death, desperate to hear the singing voice of his long lost sister of whom he lost when they were still kids. This album gives us Happy Returns, which, while seemingly full of hyperbole, is more depressing than Stop Swimming, Octane Twisted, and the Raven That Refused to Sing combined. It is that powerful.
Often, Wilson creates stories with his songs, but Hand Cannot Erase goes beyond a story. It is a reality that has occurred for some, a reality that may occur to you (the listener). I have always enjoyed his music, but this is his first album that makes you think about your own life. The steps within it, the steps to come. The steps of other lives. Where we put the value. I've always pondered the day in - day out routine of life, about how much of life is wasted waiting for later.
And this is all before we talk about the actual music, which is finely crafted, played by grossly awesome musicians. The lyrics themselves are haunting, story telling, entrapping. The vocal harmonies are nothing less than what one comes to expect in a Steven Wilson album. Wilson engineered the album, so it sounds as perfect as it possibly can.
This album will be the best album in 2015 not to make it above the radar, being pushed aside by shallow music critics that put forth less thought worthy material as the prized material.
