Grace for Drowning

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"'Insurgentes' was an important step for me into something new. This record takes that as a starting point, but it’s more experimental and more eclectic. For me the golden period for music was the late sixties and early seventies, when the album became the primary means of artistic expression, when musicians liberated themselves from the 3 minute pop song format, and started to draw on jazz and classical music especially, combining it with the spirit of psychedelia to create "journeys in sound" I guess you could call them. So without being retro, my album is a kind of homage to that spirit. There’s everything from [Ennio] Morricone-esque film themes to choral music to piano ballads to a 23 minute progressive jazz –inspired piece. I've actually used a few jazz musicians this time, which is something I picked up from my work remixing the King Crimson records" [7]

The special edition of the album was released on Blu-ray video disc with the music playing in 5.1 surround sound. There are accompanying visuals and videos for each track. [8]

The track Raider II is based on the murders of the "BTK killer", Dennis Rader. [9]

Critical reception

Grace for Drowning
Steven Wilson - Grace for Drowning.jpg
Studio album by
Released26 September 2011
RecordedJanuary 2010 – June 2011
StudioNo Man's Land (Hemel Hempstead)
Koolworld (Luton)
Angel Recording Studios (London)
various locations in the UK, United States and Germany
Genre
Length83:01
Label Kscope
Producer Steven Wilson
Steven Wilson chronology
Insurgentes
(2008)
Grace for Drowning
(2011)
The Raven That Refused to Sing (And Other Stories)
(2013)
Deluxe Edition
Grace For Drowning - Deluxe Edition Book.png
120-page deluxe edition hardback book
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar half.svgStar empty.svg [10]
Classic Rock Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar empty.svg [11]
Mojo Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar empty.svg [12]
Ox-Fanzine Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar half.svg [13]
PopMatters Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar empty.svgStar empty.svg [14]
Rolling Stone Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar empty.svg [15]

Reception for the album was generally favourable. Ben Bland of Stereoboard wrote positively of the album, stating "For a work so defiantly widescreen in its intentions as this, it is truly remarkable that there is nothing that could, or rather should, be accused of being filler or being over the top." [16] William Ruhlmann from AllMusic gave a mixed review to the album and compared it to Wilson's other projects, Porcupine Tree and Bass Communion, saying "Grace for Drowning has a particular conception in terms of its emotional journey from sadness through anger to acceptance, but it is also just another in a lengthy discography of albums by Wilson under various names in relatively similar styles". [10] Brice Ezell of PopMatters gave a very positive review to the album, scoring it 8 out of 10. He wrote that "[Wilson] may remain a divisive musical personality, but Grace for Drowning is such a fine listen that even the most adamantly opposed listener has to at least give him style points, both for the artistic presentation of the album and the music within". [14]

Track listing

All tracks are written by Steven Wilson

Disc 1: Deform to Form a Star
No.TitleLength
1."Grace for Drowning"2:06
2."Sectarian" (instrumental)7:41
3."Deform to Form a Star"7:51
4."No Part of Me"5:45
5."Postcard"4:29
6."Raider Prelude" (instrumental)2:23
7."Remainder the Black Dog"9:27
Total length:39:38
Disc 2: Like Dust I Have Cleared from My Eye
No.TitleLength
1."Belle de jour" (instrumental)2:59
2."Index"4:49
3."Track One"4:16
4."Raider II"23:21
5."Like Dust I Have Cleared from My Eye"8:01
Total length:43:23
Disc 3: The Map (Deluxe Edition only; Demos + Out-Takes)
No.TitleLength
1."Home in Negative"3:00
2."Fluid Tap"5:45
3."The Map"3:30
4."Raider Acceleration"6:15
5."Black Dog Throwbacks"2:30
6."Raider II" (demo version)21:15
Blu-ray bonus tracks
No.TitleLength
1."Home in Negative"3:03
2."Fluid Tap"5:45
3."Sectarian" (demo)9:06
4."Deform to Form a Star" (demo)7:09
5."No Part of Me" (demo)5:59
6."Remainder the Black Dog" (video)9:29
7."Remainder the Black Dog" (demo)9:17
8."Belle de jour" (video)2:59
9."Index" (video)4:49
10."Track One" (video)4:10
11."Raider II" (demo)21:09
12."Like Dust I Have Cleared from My Eye" (video)8:02
13."Like Dust I Have Cleared from My Eye" (demo)5:05

Personnel

Credits adapted from the official website [17]

Musicians

DVD

Wilson and longtime collaborator Lasse Hoile announced in late August 2012 that a DVD, filmed live in Mexico City on the Grace for Drowning tour, would be released on 24 September 2012.

Tour

Touring band members included drummer Marco Minnemann, bassist and backing vocalist Nick Beggs, guitarist Aziz Ibrahim (First European leg only), John Wesley (First US leg only), or Niko Tsonev (Second leg), keyboardist Adam Holzman, and Theo Travis on flute, saxes and clarinet. Drummer/keyboardist Gary Husband was originally announced on keys, but pulled out for medical reasons. Ibrahim was unable to tour in the US due to visa problems. [19]

First leg

DateCityCountryVenue
Europe [20]
20 October 2011 Poznań Poland Eskulap
21 October 2011 Kraków Wisla Hall
22 October 2011 Berlin GermanyHeimathafen
23 October 2011 Munich Muffathalle
25 October 2011 Amsterdam Netherlands Paradiso
26 October 2011ParisFrance Bataclan
27 October 2011 Cologne GermanyLive Music Hall
28 October 2011 Hamburg Markthalle
30 October 2011 Zoetermeer Netherlands Boerderij
31 October 2011LondonUnited Kingdom O2 Shepherd's Bush Empire
United States and Canada [20]
8 November 2011 Orlando United States House of Blues
10 November 2011 Baltimore Rams Head Live!
11 November 2011New York City Best Buy Theater
12 November 2011 Philadelphia Temple Performing Arts Center
13 November 2011 Boston Berklee Performance Center
15 November 2011 Montreal CanadaCorona
16 November 2011 Toronto The Opera House
18 November 2011ChicagoUnited States Park West

Second leg

"Luminol", from the then-forthcoming album The Raven That Refused to Sing (And Other Stories) was introduced by Wilson in January 2012 and added to the set list for the second leg of the tour.[ citation needed ]

DateCityCountryVenue
United States and Mexico [20]
4 April 2012 Seattle United StatesShowbox
6 April 2012San Francisco The Fillmore
7 April 2012Los Angeles House of Blues
9 April 2012 Dallas House of Blues
13 April 2012 Mexico City MexicoMetropolitan
South America [20]
15 April 2012 Caracas Venezuela Hotel Eurobuilding
17 April 2012 Santiago ChileTeatro Oriente
18 April 2012Teatro Caupolicán
19 April 2012 Buenos Aires Argentina Teatro Flores
21 April 2012 Sao Paulo BrazilVia Marquês
Europe [20]
25 April 2012 Malmö SwedenKB
26 April 2012 Stockholm Gota Kallare
28 April 2012 Bergen Norway Peer Gynt
29 April 2012 Oslo Rockefeller
30 April 2012 Copenhagen Denmark Amager Bio
2 May 2012 Tilburg Netherlands 013
3 May 2012 Mannheim GermanyAlte Feuerwache
4 May 2012ParisFrance Le Trianon
6 May 2012 Saarbrücken GermanyGarage
7 May 2012 Stuttgart Theaterhaus
9 May 2012 Pratteln SwitzerlandZ7
10 May 2012 Milan ItalyAlcatraz
11 May 2012 Rome Orion
13 May 2012 Dortmund GermanyFZW
14 May 2012 Brussels Belgium AB
15 May 2012LondonUnited KingdomShepherd's Bush Empire

Charts

CountryPeak
Position
Netherlands [21] 22
Poland [22] 7
Italy [23] 45
Switzerland [24] 54
France [25] 96
Belgium [26] 76
Austria [27] 40
Finland [28] 30
Germany [29] 22
United Kingdom [30] 34
U.S. Billboard 200 [31] 85
U.S. Independent Albums [31] 12
U.S. Top Rock Albums [31] 19

Awards

Grammy Awards

YearNominee / workAwardResult
2012 Grace For Drowning [2] Best Surround Sound Album Nominated

Progressive Music Awards

YearNominee / workAwardResult
2012"Raider II" [32] AnthemNominated
Grace for Drowning(Deluxe Edition) [32] Grand DesignNominated

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