Ever the progressive rock enthusiast, Steven Wilson has rolled out the old trick of two sidelong suites on his eighth solo album The Overview. For those unfamiliar with the term, an album side is roughly 20 minutes long, meaning this album is basically two long songs (short by CD standards, but that’s not important, given how prolific Wilson tends to be).

Where his last album The Harmony Codex was forward-thinking and reliant on electronics, Overview relies more on guitar and drums and has more of a classicist feel. “Objects Outlive Us” is the first half of the disc, an eight-part, 23-minute opus that has a distinct Wilson/Porcupine Tree feel in its sprawl, with hints of any other classic prog band you’d care to name weaving in and out.

The Spotify version of the album has a bonus disc with the tracks broken up, so you could skip the slower or less interesting parts of the track if desired to get to “Meanwhile” (featuring a cool overdriven bass breakdown in the middle) or the three-minute instrumental section of “Cosmic Sons of Toil,” featuring some fine guitar work by Randy McStine and a solid rhythmic backdrop. It doesn’t exactly cohere as a whole but enough of the individual pieces are entertaining to make it work, and as ever Wilson’s ambition and scope are admirable.

The second half/side, “The Overview,” is more electronic and chilly, closer to Harmony Codex in sound if not style. The conceit of the album is the feeling astronauts have when viewing the Earth from space. Of particular note is the “Infinity Measured in Moments” section, which comes about 10 minutes into the track and captures the awe one might feel at that time. Weaving throughout the full track is the voice of Wilson’s wife Rotem, reciting various space distances and stars with a detached planetarium-like voice, before things close with a thoughtful meditation in “Permanence.”

An obvious parallel will be drawn between this and early/middle Pink Floyd due to the spacy themes, languid stretches of music and occasional bursts of electric guitar. No shame in this, and Wilson himself is probably fine with the comparison, though as usual such comparisons are reductive when dealing with progressive-sounding rock. It’s not a masterpiece, but The Overview is Wilson doing what he does best. A solid concept, an audacious approach (at least for modern music), attention to detail and a bit of indulgence lead to a fine piece of work.

Rating: B+

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