Blackfield | |
---|---|
Background information | |
Origin | Hemel Hempstead, England Ramat Gan, Israel |
Genres | |
Years active | 2001–present |
Labels | |
Members | Aviv Geffen Steven Wilson Tomer Z Eran Mitelman Omri Agmon Hadar Green |
Past members | Chris Maitland Daniel Salomon Seffy Efrati |
Blackfield is a collaborative music project by the English musician and founder of Porcupine Tree, Steven Wilson, and Israeli rock musician Aviv Geffen. Together, six albums have been released under the moniker. The first two records, Blackfield and Blackfield II, saw Geffen and Wilson working together as equal partners, while the third and fourth, Welcome to my DNA and Blackfield IV, saw Geffen take on a leading role, writing all but one track across both albums and providing a significantly increased share of lead vocals. Despite initially announcing his intention to leave the project in 2014, Wilson instead worked again as an equal partner on a fifth album, Blackfield V , which was released on 10 February 2017. A sixth record, For the Music, was released on 4 December 2020, with Geffen again taking a leading role.
Geffen, a fan of Porcupine Tree and Wilson, invited the band to play shows in Israel in 2000. He struck up a friendship with Wilson, leading to the two musicians recording together. Geffen performed backing vocals on two tracks on Porcupine Tree's In Absentia album, "The Sound of Muzak" and "Prodigal". Geffen, interested in growing a fanbase outside of Israel, approached Wilson about starting their own project, which would become Blackfield. Originally planned as an EP for a 2001 release, it eventually evolved into a 2004 self-titled full-length recording. [6] Wilson provided lead vocals on all but two songs, and played guitar or piano on every song except "Scars", which had instrumentation provided by Geffen's band "The Mistakes.” [7]
Outside of Israel, the band has received constant comparison to Porcupine Tree, Wilson's most popular project. In response, Wilson has explained:
...Porcupine Tree would never be so focused on the art of a 3 minute pop song, which I believe. Blackfield is all about the art of a great tradition pop song of verse-chorus-verse-chorus. Porcupine Tree has never been about that, although we have fraternized a little bit with the art of pop music. Porcupine Tree has always been more about horizontally complex long pieces and the album is an overall piece rather than lots of little pieces... Aviv is not a big fan of heavy music and he is not a big fan of long pieces so immediately the meeting point had to be somewhere where we were both focused on short melancholic songs. [8]
In early 2004, the band debuted live on a couple of promotional TV performances in Israel. This line-up featured drummer Chris Maitland (drummer of Porcupine Tree from 1993 to 2002), who was replaced by Tomer Zidkyahu for a European tour that followed in the autumn of 2004. Their first self-titled album was released in Israel and Europe in 2004, and the United States in 2005.
While the band's first album was created over a relatively long period of time, the follow-up album, Blackfield II , was created in one short burst of activity. [9] Wilson and Geffen worked on their respective projects throughout the end of 2005, but in early 2006 Wilson moved to Israel for six months to work on the album. [9] Wilson performed lead or co-vocals on all tracks except "Miss U", which Geffen performed all vocals on. [10] The album was released in February 2007 in Europe and March 2007 in the United States. In the same year, keyboardist Daniel Salomon left the band to continue his successful solo career. Salomon was replaced by Eran Mitelman, former keyboardist for Israeli hard rock band HaYehudim. The band also recorded a live CD/DVD combo, titled Blackfield – Live in New York City while touring in support of Blackfield II, in March 2007. [11]
In a 2008 interview, Wilson discussed Blackfield's future at the time, stating, "I think we're going to tentatively start working on some new songs and that's as far as we've got regarding planning. I think there almost certainly will be another record. As with No-Man and my other projects, there's no reason to stop doing them as long as the music keeps flowing." [12]
In January 2009, to promote his first English-language European release, Geffen went on a small tour of Europe with the Blackfield live band, with Wilson being billed as a special guest. Half of the set consisted of songs from the then yet-to-be-released first English language solo album by Geffen, while the rest was a selection of Blackfield songs. Wilson would also appear on three tracks from the album.
In April 2010, Geffen and Wilson entered the studio to begin writing the follow-up to Blackfield II. [13] However, this time, all songs, with the exception of the track "Waving", were written by Geffen, as Wilson had been concentrating on his second solo album, Grace for Drowning , at the same time. [14] [15] Wilson only performed lead vocals on five of the eleven tracks, but provided backing or co-vocals on several other tracks. Their third album, Welcome to my DNA , was released on 28 March 2011 [16] and supported by a European and North American tour following a kickoff concert in Israel. [17] [ non-primary source needed ] However, several concert dates were cancelled due to the death of Wilson's father in May 2011. [18] [19]
After touring for Welcome to my DNA was completed, Wilson confirmed that with Blackfield, like the majority of his other projects, he himself had no particular plans for the future, but the project was not necessarily over either. [20] However, in January 2012, Geffen announced his intentions to release a fourth Blackfield album by May 2012. [21] [22] This prompted Wilson to announce that his role would continue to lessen, with Wilson acting only as a contributor and mixer. Wilson said of the band's future:
...just to clarify news elsewhere of a new Blackfield album coming this year – please note that this time my involvement will be as a contributor rather than a member. I will still be mixing the album, and maybe sing on a couple of Aviv’s songs (there will be other guest singers I understand), but with my complete blessing Blackfield is now under his sole curatorship, a process which really began with Welcome to My DNA" [21] [23]
Wilson later said that it was his own idea for Geffen to take over the project, because he wanted to concentrate on his solo career and Porcupine Tree in 2012 and 2013, while Geffen wanted to do another Blackfield album right away in 2012, and he felt guilty about holding him back. [15]
On 29 and 30 January, both Geffen and Wilson were in the studio working on vocals and guitar for the then-untitled fourth album. [24] [25] Wilson stated that he would contribute lead vocals to only one song, but was also contributing "a bunch of guitar parts" and "arranging backing vocals". [15] Despite his lessened role, he said that he was "protective of the Blackfield legacy", and that the next album would "still sound like a quintessential Blackfield album." [15] One of the guest vocalists that Wilson had mentioned before was Vincent Cavanagh of the band Anathema. [26] On 14 June 2012, Geffen announced he was in the final mixing stages of the album with Wilson. [27] In a September 2012 interview with Discord Magazine, Wilson reiterated his stance with Blackfield, stating:
I won’t say producing [the fourth album], I am only helping [Geffen], a bit of singing, guitar, mixing whatever it takes but I am not going to tour, it'll be too much, I'll kill myself, would just run myself to the ground. I won't tour Blackfield anymore but I will do anything to keep the name going...I just don't think that writing the kind of style that Blackfield make is where I am at right now. [28]
At the end of November 2012, Geffen said he was aiming for an April 2013 release. [29] Wilson reiterated that he sang and played guitar on several tracks, but "much less than before", that Geffen was able to get "a bunch of great singers to contribute to the record, some of whom are quite well known", and that the album would be the first that Geffen would consent to be mixed for surround sound. [30]
On 25 February 2013, Wilson released his third solo album, The Raven That Refused to Sing , of which some copies contained a compilation sampler disc of music made by artists on the record label Kscope; one track was a new Blackfield song, "Pills", taken from the forthcoming album. [31] [32] On 9 June 2013, it was announced that the album would be titled Blackfield IV , and its release date would be 26 August 2013. [33] Blackfield toured in support of the album in February 2014, [34] with Wilson being present for all performances. [35] [ non-primary source needed ] On 29 January 2014, Wilson announced his intention to quit the band after the European tour, due to his increasingly tight schedule with his solo career and upcoming projects. [36]
In January 2015, it was announced that Geffen and Alan Parsons were recording and performing together for a future Blackfield album. [37] Despite Wilson's comments alluding to leaving the band in 2014, he was seen in recording sessions with Geffen and Parsons in June 2015 [38] [ non-primary source needed ] and June 2016. [39] [ non-primary source needed ] [40] In August 2016, album details were officially announced, revealing the official album title – Blackfield V , its artwork, and that it would see a return to the collaborative approach between Wilson and Geffen taken for the first two Blackfield records. [40] The album was initially scheduled for release on 18 November 2016, [41] but was later delayed to 10 February 2017. On 8 December 2016 "Family Man", "How Was Your Ride?" and "Sorrys", the second, third and fifth songs from the album, were released.
On 28 June 2018, Steven Wilson announced the compilation album "Open Mind - The Best of Blackfield" on his Instagram. [42] The album was released in September 2018. [43]
On 13 May 2019, a picture of Geffen and Wilson working in a recording studio was posted on the band's Facebook page with the caption "Blackfield 6th, recording session, here we go again !" [44] In July 2020, Geffen signed to Warner Records. [45] [46] After announcing his signing with Warner, on 24 July Blackfield released the first single, “Summer's Gone”, from their upcoming sixth album For the Music, [47] followed by a second track “Under My Skin” on 2 October. For the Music was released worldwide on 4 December 2020. The album saw Geffen once again taking a leading role, with Wilson only providing lead vocals on three tracks.
Geffen has described the band's sounds as
"I don't think it's prog really, it's...very melodic...but it's not prog. I don't allow Steven to play more than two-minute solos. He respects that. Blackfield is everything, it's metal, it's prog, it's pop. Blackfield sounds so special because it's a really odd collaboration. I'm not coming from the prog scene, I'm coming from the indie rock, pop scene." [48]
Geffen states that while he enjoys mixing different musical sounds, he refuses to incorporate rap music into the band's sound, stating "I hate hip hop...We won't do a shitty pop song." [48] Influences for the band include Jim Morrison, Radiohead, King Crimson, Genesis, and Pink Floyd. [48]
There has been some overlap between Blackfield and Geffen and Wilson's other projects. The songs "Scars," "Cloudy Now," "Glow," "1,000 People," "Epidemic," "End of the World," "Zigota" and "Garden of Sin" had originally been written by Geffen in Hebrew before being translated into English and adapted by Blackfield. On the other hand, the song "Christenings" was originally conceived during Wilson's writing sessions for Porcupine Tree's 2005 release Deadwing , but was released on Blackfield II instead. Additionally, the track "Feel So Low", off of Porcupine Tree's 2000 release Lightbulb Sun , was re-recorded by Blackfield and added to the LP version of Blackfield's first album. [7] In this version, Geffen sings the first verse in Hebrew.
Live, Blackfield has performed Porcupine Tree's "Waiting" and "Feel So Low", as well as covering Alanis Morissette's "Thank U," which Wilson had previously recorded solo for his own cover version compilation album. [11]
Some musicians have cited them as an influence, such as Dial, [49] while others have expressed admiration for their work including Jordan Rudess, [50] Arne "Lanvall" Stockhammer of Edenbridge, [51] Nick Barrett of Pendragon, Thrawn of Secrets of the Moon, [52] and Dean Marsh of Gandalf's Fist. [53]
Year | Title | Peak chart positions | |||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
BEL (Fl) [54] | BEL (Wa) [55] | FRA [56] | FIN [57] | NLD [58] | SWI [59] | POL [60] | UK [61] [62] | ||
2004 | Blackfield
| — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — |
2007 | Blackfield II
| — | — | — | — | 78 | — | 19 | — |
2011 | Welcome to My DNA
| — | 100 | 185 | 47 | 31 | 64 | 10 | 139 |
2013 | Blackfield IV
| 98 | 47 | 65 | — | 28 | 74 | 8 | 95 |
2017 | Blackfield V
| 115 | 118 | 155 [63] | 43 [64] | 16 | 48 | 16 | 54 |
2020 | For the Music
| – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – |
"—" denotes a release that did not chart. |
Year | Title | Peak chart positions |
---|---|---|
NLD [65] | ||
2007 | Live in New York City
| 30 |
Porcupine Tree are an English rock band formed by musician Steven Wilson in 1987. During an initial career spanning more than twenty years, they earned critical acclaim from critics and fellow musicians, developed a cult following, and became an influence for new artists. The group carved out a career at a certain distance away from mainstream music, being described by publications such as Classic Rock and PopMatters as "the most important band you'd never heard of".
Steven John Wilson is an English musician. He is the founder, guitarist, lead vocalist and songwriter of the rock band Porcupine Tree, as well as being a member of several other bands, including Blackfield, Storm Corrosion and No-Man. He is also a solo artist, having released seven solo albums since his solo debut Insurgentes in 2008. In a career spanning more than 30 years, Wilson has made music prolifically and earned critical acclaim. His honours include six nominations for Grammy Awards: twice with Porcupine Tree, once with his collaborative band Storm Corrosion and three times as a solo artist. In 2017, The Daily Telegraph described him as "a resolutely independent artist" and "probably the most successful British artist you've never heard of".
Aviv Geffen is an Israeli rock musician, singer, and songwriter. In addition to his solo career, Geffen is a founding member of the band Blackfield, he was also the global music director for WeWork.
Deadwing is the eighth studio album by British progressive rock band Porcupine Tree, released in Japan on 24 March 2005, in Europe on 28 March, and in the US on 26 April. It quickly became the band's best selling album, although it was later surpassed by Fear of a Blank Planet. The album is based on a screenplay written by Steven Wilson and Mike Bennion, and is a ghost story. Wilson has stated that the songs "Deadwing", "Lazarus", "Arriving Somewhere but Not Here", "Open Car", and "Mellotron Scratch" were originally intended for the film soundtrack, but when the project failed to find funding they were instead recorded for the next Porcupine Tree album. The album versions of "Lazarus" and "Open Car" essentially remain Wilson solo tracks onto which Gavin Harrison overdubbed drums.
In Absentia is the seventh studio album by British progressive rock band Porcupine Tree, first released on 24 September 2002. The album marked several changes for the band, with it being the first with new drummer Gavin Harrison and the first to move into a more progressive metal direction, contrary to past albums' psychedelic and alternative rock sounds. Additionally, it was their first release on a major record label, Lava Records. It was very well received critically and commercially, with it often being considered the band's crowning achievement, and selling three times as many copies as any of the band's earlier albums.
Lightbulb Sun is the sixth studio album by British progressive rock band Porcupine Tree, first released in May 2000, and later reissued in 2008 on CD, DVD-A surround sound, and vinyl.
Monica Sex is an Israeli alternative rock band.
Blackfield is the debut album by the art rock band Blackfield, released on the Snapper Music/Helicon labels in February 2004. The album was re-released in August of the same year with an additional three-track bonus disc, followed by a later pressing that contains the album and the three bonus tracks all on one CD.
Lasse Hoile is a Danish artist, photographer and filmmaker. He has collaborated with musician Steven Wilson and his projects Porcupine Tree and Blackfield. He has also designed live visuals for US progressive metal band Dream Theater. In the mid-1990s he was the vocalist for Danish death metal band Panzerchrist.
Fear of a Blank Planet is the ninth studio album by British progressive rock band Porcupine Tree and their best selling before 2009's The Incident. It was released on 16 April 2007 in the UK and the rest of Europe by Roadrunner, 24 April 2007 in the United States by Atlantic, 25 April 2007 in Japan by WHD, and 1 May 2007 in Canada by WEA. Steven Wilson has mentioned that the album's title is a direct reference to the 1990 Public Enemy album Fear of a Black Planet; while the former tackled race issues, the latter is about the fear of losing the current generation of youth to various common threats to their mental and social wellbeing, including broken homes, excessive "screen time", and narcotic overuse to the point of mental and spiritual "blankness".
Kscope is an independent record label that is part of Snapper Music, and a sister-label of Peaceville. It is dedicated to artists in the progressive rock genre. The label has released albums by Steven Wilson and his projects Porcupine Tree, No-Man and Blackfield. In 2008 it branched out and has since signed the post-progressive artists Anathema, Lunatic Soul and Ulver, and progressive rock stalwart Ian Anderson to their roster. In 2013, the Steven Wilson release The Raven That Refused to Sing received the Album of the Year award at the Progressive Music Awards.
Aviv Geffen is the debut, English-language studio album by Israeli post-punk singer-songwriter Aviv Geffen, released on 19 October 2009 in the UK. Apart from one track Geffen produced himself, the album was produced by David Andrew Sitek, Trevor Horn and Ken Nelson (Coldplay).
Welcome to My DNA is the third studio album by Blackfield, a musical collaboration between Steven Wilson and Aviv Geffen. It was released in Europe on 28 March 2011, and released in the US on 19 April 2011, as a digi-book CD and heavyweight vinyl limited to 2000 individually numbered copies.
Storm Corrosion was a musical collaboration between Swedish musician Mikael Åkerfeldt of progressive metal band Opeth and English musician Steven Wilson of the progressive rock band Porcupine Tree. Åkerfeldt and Wilson began a longstanding musical partnership in 2001 when Wilson produced Opeth's fifth studio album Blackwater Park. The two began writing together for a new project in 2010, releasing their self-titled only studio album in 2012 through Roadrunner Records.
Grace for Drowning is the second solo studio album by Steven Wilson, producer, songwriter, and frontman of Porcupine Tree. It was released by Kscope on 26 September 2011 as a double album. The album received a nomination at the 54th Annual Grammy Awards for Best Surround Sound Album.
The Raven That Refused to Sing (And Other Stories) is the third solo album by British musician Steven Wilson, released by Kscope Music Records on 25 February 2013. Each track on the album is based on a story of the supernatural. Alan Parsons, who had previously been involved in the creation of Pink Floyd's The Dark Side of the Moon was responsible for engineering the album.
Blackfield IV is the fourth studio album by Blackfield, the musical collaboration by Aviv Geffen and Steven Wilson. Similar to their third album, Welcome to My DNA, Geffen has taken over more active duties on the album while Wilson focuses on his solo career. The album was released on 26 August 2013.
4+1⁄2 is an EP by British musician Steven Wilson. It was released on 22 January 2016. It collects songs that were written during the sessions for Wilson's previous two studio albums, The Raven That Refused to Sing and Hand. Cannot. Erase.. The closing track is a new version of "Don't Hate Me", originally recorded by Porcupine Tree on the album Stupid Dream, sung as a duet with Israeli singer Ninet Tayeb. The title 4+1⁄2 indicates the EP serves as an interim release between Wilson's fourth solo album Hand. Cannot. Erase. and his fifth full-length studio album To the Bone.
Blackfield V is the fifth studio album by art rock band Blackfield. Recorded over a year and a half period across 2015 and 2016, the album, initially intended for release on 18 November 2016, was later delayed to 10 February 2017. The album, the fifth between the musical partnership between Steven Wilson and Aviv Geffen, is the third released as an even collaboration between the two; while Blackfield and Blackfield II were even collaborations, Welcome to My DNA and Blackfield IV saw increased writing and musicianship from Geffen while Wilson focused on his solo albums Grace for Drowning and The Raven that Refused to Sing.
Closure/Continuation is the eleventh studio album by British progressive rock band Porcupine Tree. It is their first since 2009's The Incident. Despite public uncertainty of the band's future after frontman Steven Wilson's focus on a solo career in 2010, the album was recorded intermittently in complete secrecy among Wilson, Gavin Harrison, and Richard Barbieri across the course of the following decade, without longtime bassist Colin Edwin. With the COVID-19 pandemic putting members' separate plans on hold, the band found time to finish the record in September 2021. Towards the end of the year, the band's reformation was announced, alongside the album's release date of 24 June 2022. Four singles were released ahead of the record—"Harridan", "Of the New Day", "Herd Culling", and "Rats Return".
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has generic name (help)[...] j'aime beaucoup l'album de Blackfield. [...] (I love the album of Blackfield)
At the moment I love bands like Blackfield, [...]
[...] My actual favourite is Blackfields first album!