Signify (album)

Last updated

Signify
Porcupine tree signify.jpg
Studio album by
Porcupine Tree
Released30 September 1996 [1]
Recorded1995–1996
StudioNo Man's Land (Hemel Hempstead, Hertfordshire, England), The Doghouse (Henley-on-Thames, England), Katrina & the Waves' Studio (Cambridge, England)
Genre Progressive rock, psychedelic rock, space rock, krautrock [2]
Length61:56
Label Delerium
Producer Steven Wilson
Porcupine Tree chronology
The Sky Moves Sideways
(1995)		Signify
(1996)		 Coma Divine – Recorded Live in Rome
(1997)
Singles from Signify
  1. "Waiting"
    Released: May 1996

Signify is the fourth studio album by British progressive rock band Porcupine Tree. It was released in September 1996 and later re-released in 2003 with a second disc of demos, which had previously been released on the b-side cassette tape Insignificance , [3] and a third time, on vinyl, on 9 May 2011. [4] It was the first album that frontman Steven Wilson recorded with the band on board from the beginning; previous albums had been essentially solo efforts with occasional help from other musicians.

Contents

Background

Writing and recording

Signify was the first Porcupine Tree album recorded as a full band unit, rather than primarily by frontman Steven Wilson with occasional assistance from other musicians, primarily the ones who would become full-time band members as of this album; Richard Barbieri, Colin Edwin, and Chris Maitland. [2] [5] In 1995, the band would alternate between touring in support of their last release, The Sky Moves Sideways , and writing and recording the album, with Wilson describing it as "The album was recorded in quite a piecemeal way with tracks written and recorded in batches of 2 or 3, followed by gaps of up to 3 months."[ citation needed ] As such, a number of the songs, albeit in early forms, were debuted live before the album's release.

Edwin would admit that while Wilson allowed him a lot of freedom with his bass parts, sometimes Wilson would simply replace his demo takes with Wilson's own work on the final version, as was the case with the tracks "Sever" and "Dark Matter".[ citation needed ] Barbieri's goals for his contributions during the Signify sessions were "...to use what in isolation would be a weird and abstract sound or texture and to make it work in the context of a pop song". [6]

Wilson said of the recording process:

"Signify was slightly odd in the way it was recorded in the sense that although it is a band album, because we were never able to actually all be in the same room at the same time, because of physical limitations, with the exception of one track, "Intermediate Jesus", which was done outside, I tended to demo the tracks to a fairly high level and they would just replace the parts that I'd played on synthesizers with the real thing. So there wasn't a great deal of input from the other guys."

Sound

In addition to the change in sound coming from it being the first collaborative, full band album as a whole, the album marked a transition in genre as well. [7] The band's first three albums were characterized as being psychedelic rock and experimental space rock. [8] This album still retains these qualities, but at the same time, moves closer to a more structured, radio-friendly and commercial sound, a style of progressive rock that the band explored in a much stronger way in the band's subsequent albums Stupid Dream and Lightbulb Sun . [7] [9] The album has been described as "...the end of an era, while simultaneously ushering in the dawn of a new age...It contains sprawling, vague instrumental tunes as well as more straightforward, cleverly written songs with a clear-cut song structure. A precursor to Stupid Dream and an epilogue to Porcupine Tree's psychedelic past." [9] PopMatters later reflected that the album would become to be known as the band's krautrock album. [2]

Song details

The title track of the album, "Signify", actually originated as a demo cover version of a song by the krautrock band Neu! titled "Hallogallo", but upon the band experimenting, evolved into an original song. [10] The album was originally supposed to end with the track "Signify II", but was later trimmed off to shorten the album's overall run-time. The song is still based on the riff from the title track and "Hallogallo", but is less raw, has different segments, and extends to an almost doubled length. It would be released eventually under the compilation album Stars Die: The Delerium Years 1991-1997 , and parts of it would be played live in conjunction with the title track, such as is shown on the live album Coma Divine .

The track "Every Home is Wired" reflect Wilson's attitude toward the internet at the time, while the track "Dark Matter" was in reference to the dark side of touring in support of album releases. "Every Home is Wired" consists of 37 separate overdubbed vocal tracks. [11] The track "Light Mass Prayers" was written by drummer Chris Maitland and actually features no drumming at all. Demo versions of the tracks "Signify", "Waiting", "Sever" and "Dark Matter" were all included on the b-side and demo compilation album Insignificance, the latter under the title "Sever Tomorrow" and "Dark Origins". Another demo from the era, "Wake as Gun," would ultimately be reused in Wilson's other project, No-Man, for the song "Jack the Sax" (from the 1997 EP Dry Cleaning Ray ); in another connection between the bands, the interlude track "Pagan" on Signify uses the same operatic sample previously used in the ending of "Colours" from No-Man's Lovesighs – An Entertainment .

Reception

Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar empty.svg [12]
SputnikmusicStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svg [13]

Reception for the album has been mostly positive. Sputnikmusic gave Signify five out of five stars, applauding the album as "a masterpiece in modern psychedelia", writing that it "exudes a raw feeling of musical passion and pure trippy atmosphere: the soaring, expertly written vocal harmonies, engulfing instrumental pieces, unsettling samples, and puzzling abstract lyrics." [13]

AllMusic gave the album four out of five stars, praising the album as "... the next great step forward for Porcupine Tree, a distinct advancement in how well the foursome could completely rock out as well as find its own narcotic style of ambient exploration...For all that Wilson may once again be singing obliquely on the pressures and nature of end-of-century life, he still does so in an engagingly left-of-center way." [5]

Track listing

No.TitleLyricsMusicLength
1."Bornlivedie" Wilson, Barbieri1:41
2."Signify (instrumental)" Wilson3:26
3."Sleep of No Dreaming"WilsonWilson5:24
4."Pagan" Wilson1:34
5."Waiting (Phase One)"WilsonWilson4:24
6."Waiting (Phase Two)" Wilson6:15
7."Sever"WilsonWilson5:30
8."Idiot Prayer" Wilson, Edwin7:37
9."Every Home Is Wired"WilsonWilson5:08
10."Intermediate Jesus" Wilson, Barbieri, Edwin, Maitland7:29
11."Light Mass Prayers" Maitland4:28
12."Dark Matter" (song ends at 8:10; after 30 seconds a hidden track plays)WilsonWilson8:54
Total length:61:56

Insignificance and second disc

In 1997, a collection of b-sides and demos from the Signify sessions, titled Insignificance, was released on cassette tape. [14] When Signify was reissued in 2003 on Delerium Records and in 2004 on Snapper Music, Insignificance was packaged as a second disc of Signify, with a slightly altered track list. [3] [14] The later re-releases do not contain the tracks "Door to the River" or "Insignificance", as they were included with the rest of the full band tracks on Metanoia. Still, the compilation retains ten tracks through the inclusion of the track "Dark Origins" and the indexing of Hallogallo/Signify into two separate tracks (despite still running continuously from one to the other).

Track1997 cassette tape2003–04 Signify 2nd CD reissue
1"Wake As Gun 1" – 3:24"Wake As Gun 1" – 3:29
2"Hallogallo/Signify " – 6:53"Hallogallo" – 3:37
3"Waiting" – 6:45"Signify" – 3:28
4"Smiling Not Smiling" – 3:40"Waiting" – 6:56
5"Wake As Gun 2" – 3:42"Smiling Not Smiling" – 3:49
6"Neural Rust" – 5:47"Wake As Gun 2" – 2:06
7"Sever Tomorrow" – 6:01"Neural Rust" – 5:53
8"Door to the River" – 4:17"Dark Origins" – 6:54
9"Insignificance" – 4:54"Sever Tomorrow" – 6:04
10"Nine Cats" (acoustic version) – 4:03"Nine Cats" (acoustic version) – 4:08

Other tracks

B-sides from the era, including "The Sound of No-One Listening" (from the "Waiting" single and the original vinyl pressing of Signify) and "Fuse the Sky" (a remix of the title track from The Sky Moves Sideways released on an ambient compilation) appear in addition to the aforementioned "Signify II" and "Colourflow in Mind" (an album outtake) on the compilation album Stars Die: The Delerium Years 1991–1997 .

Additionally, an album of studio improvisations from that period, called Metanoia , was released in 1998. The improvisational sessions contained both previously unreleased material and material that was shaped into previously released songs; a track called "Metanoia I/Intermediate Jesus", an over 14-minute long freeform jam, was edited down to serve as the main backing track for the song "Intermediate Jesus". The tracks "Door to the River" and "Insignificance" are also from these sessions and included on the release, likely the reason why they were removed from future versions of Insignificance.

The album notes of Insignificance has Wilson making references to a never recorded track called "Cryogenics". It was based on "Mesmer I" from Metanoia (it also contained part of "Wake as Gun") and was performed live by the band once in 1995. [10] A shorter version of the song was played during the Italian Tour in early 1997. It was recorded in Rome (with other material used to compile Coma Divine live album) but never mixed or released properly as the band weren't happy with the performance. [15] The live recording of "Cryogenics" was later restored and released on 2020's EP Coma: Coda (Rome 1997) which made available through the official Porcupine Tree Bandcamp page.

Personnel

Band
Additional

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Porcupine Tree</span> English progressive rock band

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".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Steven Wilson</span> English musician (born 1967)

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 6 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".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Richard Barbieri</span> English musician

Richard Barbieri is an English musician, composer and sound designer. Originally a member of new wave band Japan, more recently he is known as the keyboard player in the progressive rock band Porcupine Tree, which he joined in 1993. Aside from the founder Steven Wilson, he is the longest tenured member of Porcupine Tree.

<i>In Absentia</i> 2002 studio album by Porcupine Tree

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.

<i>Lightbulb Sun</i> 2000 studio album by Porcupine Tree

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.

<i>Stupid Dream</i> 1999 studio album by Porcupine Tree

Stupid Dream is the fifth studio album by British progressive rock band Porcupine Tree. It was first released in March 1999, and then re-released on 15 May 2006 due to the band's rising popularity on major record label Lava Records with their releases of In Absentia in 2002 and Deadwing in 2005. The album, along with Lightbulb Sun in 2000, represented a transitional period for the band, moving away from the band's earlier work in instrumental and psychedelic music, but before they took a more metal direction in 2002 onwards. The album takes a commercially accessible pop rock sound while still retaining heavy progressive rock influences.

<i>Up the Downstair</i> 1993 studio album by Porcupine Tree

Up the Downstair is the second studio album by British progressive rock band Porcupine Tree, first released in June 1993. It was originally intended to be a double album set including the song "Voyage 34", which was instead released as a single in 1992, and other material that ended up on the Staircase Infinities EP (1994). In 2005, it was partially re-recorded, fully re-mixed, remastered and re-released along with the Staircase Infinities EP as a double album. The re-release contains a re-mix by Steven Wilson incorporating newly recorded drums by Gavin Harrison that replace the electronic drums of the original version. Another re-release on double vinyl was pressed on 14 August 2008 on Kscope records. This is identical to the 2005 release, except it is printed on coloured vinyl and the Staircase Infinities disc contains the song "Phantoms".

<i>The Sky Moves Sideways</i> 1995 studio album by Porcupine Tree

The Sky Moves Sideways is the third studio album by British progressive rock band Porcupine Tree, first released in January 1995.

<i>Recordings</i> (album) 2001 compilation album by Porcupine Tree

Recordings is a compilation album by British progressive rock band Porcupine Tree, first released in May 2001. It is mainly a collection of b-sides and unreleased songs from the Stupid Dream and Lightbulb Sun albums' recording sessions. Recordings was originally a limited release, limited to only 20,000 copies worldwide. It was later reissued on CD in September, 2010, and as double vinyl in January 2011.

<i>Coma Divine – Recorded Live in Rome</i> 1997 live album by Porcupine Tree

Coma Divine – Recorded Live in Rome or just Coma Divine, is a live album by British progressive rock band Porcupine Tree, first released in October, 1997. It was expanded to a double album in 2003, adding the three tracks from the promotional single Coma Divine II (1999), and one more previously unreleased outtake. The expanded edition was also released on vinyl containing 3 LPs, plus a bonus 7 inch single with two demo versions of the song "Disappear" . The album was finally revamped in digipack through Snapper label in 2004.

<i>Metanoia</i> (Porcupine Tree album) 1998 compilation album by Porcupine Tree

Metanoia is a compilation album by British progressive rock band Porcupine Tree, first released on 10" double-vinyl in December, 1998, in a limited run of 1,000 copies. It is mostly made up of improvisations recorded during the Signify sessions, some of which were later shaped into songs. To help deter secondary- and black-market sales, the album was released on CD in December 2001 and re-issued again in 2006; it includes extra, previously released tracks from singles that were sequenced where they were extracted from the longform jams.

<i>Fear of a Blank Planet</i> 2007 album by Porcupine Tree

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".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Stranger by the Minute</span> 1999 single by Porcupine Tree

"Stranger by the Minute" is a single by British progressive rock band Porcupine Tree, released in October 1999, from the Stupid Dream album. It came in two formats: a regular CD and a 7" vinyl which features "Hallogallo", a Neu! cover. It was originally intended to include the complete version of "Even Less" on the single, but this would have meant exceeding the maximum running time allowed for a single in the UK. The CD, besides the video for "Piano Lessons", contains a Macromedia presentation including band photos, lyrics, the band's discography, and more.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Porcupine Tree discography</span>

The following is a listing of officially released works by the English band Porcupine Tree. The band has released eleven major studio albums and 7 EPs, as well as many limited editions and revamped material.

<i>Tarquins Seaweed Farm</i> 1989 studio album by Porcupine Tree

Tarquin's Seaweed Farm, subtitled "Words from a Hessian Sack", is the first album to be released by Steven Wilson under the pseudonym Porcupine Tree. It was originally a compiled cassette of experimental music made by Steven Wilson for his joke band he formed with his friend Malcom Stocks. The cassette was only sent out to a few people, but was enough to give the band a bit of fame in the UK underground music scene of the time, being picked up by the underground magazine Freakbeat. It was later released under Delerium Records in 1991 in a limited edition of 300 copies.

<i>Moonloop</i> 1994 EP by Porcupine Tree

Moonloop is an EP released by British psychedelic rock and progressive rock band Porcupine Tree, prior to the release of their third studio album, The Sky Moves Sideways. It was released on vinyl and CD in the UK by Delerium Records.

<i>Anesthetize</i> (album) 2010 live album by Porcupine Tree

Anesthetize is the second live concert film by progressive rock band Porcupine Tree, released on 20 May 2010. The Blu-ray edition was released on 15 June. It is filmed in high definition and taken from two concerts given by Porcupine Tree at Tilburg, Netherlands on 15 and 16 October, at the end of the Fear of a Blank Planet tour in 2008. The film is directed and edited by Lasse Hoile and the audio track is mixed in stereo and 5.1 Surround by Steven Wilson.

<i>Atlanta</i> (Porcupine Tree album) 2010 live album by Porcupine Tree

Atlanta is a download only double-live album by British progressive rock band Porcupine Tree recorded at the Roxy Theatre, Atlanta, United States on 29 October 2007. The show recording was initially intended for a prospective Porcupine Tree live album, but this decision was later turned down as development of the Anesthetize DVD project began. In the wake of the news regarding Mick Karn's advanced-stage cancer, the band decided to put it out as a downloadable item from the Burning Shed online store at a very cheap cost, as a .RAR file split in two parts, all in MP3 format at 320kbit/s with completely printable artwork designed by Carl Glover. The profits from the Atlanta downloads are intended to help Mick pay for his treatment. A 44.1 kHz/24-bit FLAC version was released in August 2010; profits from this version go to the Teenage Cancer Trust. Since the album's artwork and mix is set up for two CDs it is widely considered to be a double album. The album has a somewhat similar track listing to the Anesthetize DVD but includes the first official live recording of the track "A Smart Kid" and some of the songs that were performed at the shows for the Anesthetize shoot, but left out as they were already available on previous live releases.

<i>Octane Twisted</i> 2012 live album by Porcupine Tree

Octane Twisted is a live album released by Porcupine Tree on 5 November 2012. The album contains a live performance of the band's 2009 album The Incident in its entirety recorded at the Riviera Theater in Chicago on 30 April 2010. The second CD contains other tracks also recorded in Chicago, along with 3 songs from the band's (then) final show at Royal Albert Hall in London on 14 October 2010. The initial pressing also included a DVD containing a video of the Incident set.

<i>Closure/Continuation</i> 2022 studio album by Porcupine Tree

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 completely finish the record in September 2021. Towards the end of the year, the band's reformation was publicly 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".

References

  1. ↑ Porcupine Tree – Signify on delerium.co.uk Retrieved 12 May 2019
  2. 1 2 3 "Prog's Only Stupid Dream: Porcupine Tree - "Even Less" | PopMatters". Archived from the original on 24 February 2013. Retrieved 15 May 2012.
  3. 1 2 "Porcupine Tree - Official Website". www.porcupinetree.com. Archived from the original on 10 December 2005.
  4. ↑ "Kscope". burningshed.com.
  5. 1 2 "Signify – Porcupine Tree | Songs, Reviews, Credits | AllMusic" – via www.allmusic.com.
  6. ↑ "Porcupine Tree - the Official Site". 15 September 2000. Archived from the original on 15 September 2000. Retrieved 9 March 2012.
  7. 1 2 "Porcupine Tree (Review/Interview)". www.aural-innovations.com.
  8. ↑ "Porcupine Tree – "Signify"". www.aural-innovations.com.
  9. 1 2 "Porcupine Tree – Signify (album review 5) | Sputnikmusic". www.sputnikmusic.com.
  10. 1 2 Insignificance liner notes, Steven Wilson, 1997.
  11. ↑ "Prog's Only Stupid Dream: Porcupine Tree - "Baby Dream in Cellophane" < PopMatters". www.popmatters.com. Archived from the original on 9 June 2012.
  12. ↑ "allmusic ((( Signify > Overview )))". allmusic.com. Retrieved 22 November 2009.
  13. 1 2 "Porcupine Tree – Signify (album review 3) | Sputnikmusic". www.sputnikmusic.com.
  14. 1 2 "Steven Wilson – The Complete Discography (8th Edition), p. 63" (PDF). Retrieved 13 April 2008.
  15. ↑ "Porcupine Tree - Official Website". www.porcupinetree.com. Archived from the original on 13 October 2005.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.