Steven Wilson’s new album THE FUTURE BITES is an exploration of how the human brain has evolved in the Internet era. As well as being Wilson’s phenomenal sixth album, THE FUTURE BITES is also an online portal to a world of high concept design custom-built for the ultra-modern consumer.
Where 2017’s To The Bone confronted the emerging global issues of post-truth and fake news, THE FUTURE BITES places the listener in a world of 21st-century addictions. It’s a place where on-going, very public experiments constantly take place into the effects of nascent technology on our lives. From out of control retail therapy, manipulative social media and the loss of individuality, THE FUTURE BITES is less a bleak vision of an approaching dystopia, more a curious reading of the here and now.
Musically, THE FUTURE BITES gleams. Featuring gorgeous electronic sounds warped by human intervention (King Ghost), soaring acoustics that head straight upwards into the stratosphere (12 Things I Forgot), relentless bass-driven Motorik grooves (Follower) and swampish, murky funk (Eminent Sleaze), it is Steven’s most consistently brilliant work to date. The album was recorded in London and co-produced by David Kosten (Bat For Lashes, Everything Everything) and Steven Wilson.
Online, THE FUTURE BITES is an open door to a world of purchase power where everything is marketable and nothing is too random to be put on sale. Inspired by such notable 21st-century artefacts as the Virgil Abloh ceramic block and Vitality Air canned Canadian oxygen, The Future Bites is a fully designed consumer universe (built-in collaboration with Baby and Crystal Spotlight) that’s been designed to be accessible and addictive to anyone from the casual fan to the hardcore collector.
The first track taken from the FUTURE BITES – the ten-minute long Moroder-esque tour de force PERSONAL SHOPPER– can be heard below:
THE FUTURE BITES features:
UNSELF
SELF
KING GHOST
12 THINGS I FORGOT
EMINENT SLEAZE
PERSONAL SHOPPER
MAN OF THE PEOPLE
FOLLOWER
ANYONE BUT ME
Steven Wilson plays two previously announced UK shows in the autumn at Nottingham Arena (Thursday 17th September) and London’s O2 (Saturday 19th September). These are his biggest headline shows to date.
Steven Wilson’s 2017 album To The Bone charted in the UK at No 3 (only held off by Ed Sheeran and Elvis Presley). The record was described by Mojo as “near perfect… flash & flamboyant with lovingly crafted big tunes” and by Q as “wonderfully executed pop brilliance”. The subsequent tour played to over a quarter of a million people at 145 shows in 33 countries and his first in the UK since selling out three shows at the Royal Albert Hall in March 2018, which were captured for the BluRay release Home Invasion.
Be the first to comment