Steven Wilson - "The Harmony Codex"
I really don't know how he does it
Steven Wilson is an icon. In some circles. As this is the first Wilson-related review on this platform, I’m going to take a moment to briefly sum-up why.
He is broadly popular in the Prog Rock and Metal scenes and has a devout following. He has been active since the 80s (he’s turning 56 in a few weeks) in numerous projects, releasing a total of 54 albums with his name in the credits. Let me break this number down:
The Harmony Codex is his 7th solo release;
Two albums as part of the electronic duo Atamont;
One album as a member of Ash Ridge;
Two albums as a member of Karma;
11 releases under the project name of Bass Communion, a solo project for Wilson which released its first album in 1988;
Six releases with Blackfield, a full band co-led by Israeli vocalist Aviv Geffen;
Two albums, with a companion LP for each album, under the name Continuum, which is a collaboration project between Bass Communion and Vidna Obmana;
Four albums for the solo project Incredible Expanding Mindfuck;
Seven albums as a member of Art-Pop duo No-Man (short for No Man is An Island (Except the Isle of Man));
11 albums with Porcupine Tree, probably the group he is best known for, which also ranked 2nd in my Top 40 albums of 2022 with Closure/Continuation;
And one album with Storm Corrosion, the seemingly short-lived project which paired Wilson with Opeth’s Mikael Akerfeldt.
And then there are dozens of albums which Wilson has taken on for mixing, remixing, mastering, producing, or playing the occasional guitar line for. Wilson is a titan who has had his hand in damn near everything at some point. See his Wikipedia discography for the full breakdown.
And it’s important to note that the list above is only so long because he absolutely refuses to rest on his laurels or limit himself to one sound or one style. Nearly all of those groups and projects are experimental in sound. And he recently, publicly, chastised guitarists who don’t change up their tone.
So when it comes to Wilson’s solo work, you really never know exactly what you’re going to get. This can make his music a bit divisive. Some people love it, and some are put off by the inconsistency in sound. I tend to fall right in the middle; I love some tracks and wonder what he was smoking on others.1
The Harmony Codex is still strongly within the vein of Prog Rock, as the solo albums under his name have all been. Its ten tracks run for just over an hour of total playtime, with three tracks lasting longer than nine minutes.
The album opens with “Inclination”, a strangely-constructed song which is driven by strongly percussive elements - all closely bound so that it’s hard to tell what’s drums, machine, or synced-up bass. It’s energetic and tense, and has a harsh divide right in the middle, dropping fully into silence before Wilson’s vocals slowly bring it back to life. While I can’t figure out exactly what is happening on that percussion line, the fact that Pat Mastelotto (King Crimson, Stick Men, Mr. Mister) is behind that bit makes me feel a bit better about it.
“Economies of Scale”, the third track on the album, feels like it does the impossible – I’m 90% certain that its percussion line is a drum machine, but it’s so lively that it feels less like a machine than some actual drummers I’ve heard. This song is also one of the more “standard” tracks on the album, meaning it’ll be more accessible for unfamiliar listeners.
Another of these is track five, “Rock Bottom”, which I find to be incredibly notable because it features (and was written by) Ninet Tayeb. The duo of Wilson and Tayeb is one of those combinations where two already wonderful things come together to comprise something which is, altogether, much greater than the sum of its parts.2 One of those pairings we never get quite enough from, but everything we do get is pure gold. “Rock Bottom” is the best song on The Harmony Codex; just as “Pariah” was the best song on To the Bone and “Routine” was the best track on Hand Cannot Erase.3
As much as I love Steven Wilson, there’s something magical about his collaborations with Ninet Tayeb.
Between those two tracks is “Impossible Tightrope”, the longest track on the album at 10:44. And much of it is just a jazz jam session which is incredibly fun to listen to. The sax on this track is absolutely killer, played by Theo Travis. Additional support from other musicians includes violin, psychedelic guitar, and ambient guitar.
The title track is the biggest disappointment on the album, at 9:50 in length and without any real substance. It’s a beautiful, ambient track with a number of lines spoken by a woman (Rotem Wilson, Steven’s wife). But it feels like, at every moment of the track, that something is coming. But nothing ever really does.
The album wraps up with “Staircase”, which is one of the strongest tracks, and the final of the three that lasts over nine minutes. The track features a bouncy rhythms, an addictive drumline, and tense ambient support through the use of mellotron and theremin.
The Harmony Codex is one of the strongest solo albums Wilson has put out to date, but it took a very active listening session to arrive at that conclusion after two or three passive listens. There’s a lot here that you really have to pay attention to in order to truly enjoy it. Which, for anybody familiar with Wilson’s work, that’s not surprising in the slightest. But since I was iffy on the first few listens and then LOVED it this time, I’m going to give it more time before finalizing my rating. I’m clearly still digesting.
Rating: Teal Blue
And I absolutely did not “get” the Storm Corrosion album. I feel that’s important to include if any r/StevenWilson members end up finding this. Even his fans are a bit divided on that one.
Another of these, in my opinion, is the combination of Yoko Kanno and Steve Conte. See “Stray” (from Wolf’s Rain); “Rain” or “Call Me Call Me” (from Cowboy Bebop).
Okay, to be fair, I haven’t listened to Hand Cannot Erase in years, so I could be misremembering. But I’m standing by this statement, anyway.