Grace for Drowning
Studio album by
Steven Wilson
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
LabelKscope
ProducerSteven Wilson
Steven Wilson chronology
Insurgentes
(2008)		 Grace for Drowning
(2011)		 The Raven That Refused to Sing (And Other Stories)
(2013)
Deluxe Edition
120-page deluxe edition hardback book
Singles from Grace for Drowning
  1. "Postcard"
    Released: 10 October 2011

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.[1] The album received a nomination at the 54th Annual Grammy Awards for Best Surround Sound Album.[2]

Background

After the release of his first solo album, Insurgentes, Steven Wilson spent time on a number of his other projects. These include Porcupine Tree's album The Incident in 2009, Blackfield's third album Welcome to My DNA, on 28 March 2011, and an ongoing project with Mikael Åkerfeldt (the leader of the band Opeth) named Storm Corrosion. "Cut Ribbon" was a song written in 2001 for a collaboration with Åkerfeldt, but it didn't fit the style of what Wilson was doing at the time. Wilson eventually released the song on his Soundcloud account (with Gavin Harrison on drums), having completed the recording during the Grace For Drowning sessions. However, among all these projects, in 2010, he announced that he had started working on his second solo album as well.

In early June 2011, Wilson launched a minisite for the new album revealing the album's name and album art photographed by his longtime collaborator Lasse Hoile. Additionally, a free download of the track "Remainder the Black Dog" was also added. Sound and Vision magazine's website premiered the video of "Track One" on 10 August 2011.[3] Not long after, Yahoo! Music debuted the music video for "Index".[4] On 16 August, WNYC's website premiered a free download for the radio edit of "Like Dust I Have Cleared From My Eye".[5] A video clip for "Remainder the Black Dog" was finally released on 31 August, through Guitar World magazine's website.[6]

Upon completion of the album, Wilson said:

"'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

Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[10]
Classic Rock[11]
Mojo[12]
Ox-Fanzine[13]
PopMatters[14]
Rolling Stone[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 and commented: "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
  • Deluxe Edition also contains:[18]
    • 120-page hardback book.
    • Blu-ray with 5.1 surround sound mix, high resolution stereo and additional demos.
    • Blu-ray also contains films for five tracks (directed by Lasse Hoile), photo galleries, handwritten notes and lyrics.

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

Date City Country Venue
Europe[20]
20 October 2011 Poznań Poland Eskulap
21 October 2011 Kraków Wisla Hall
22 October 2011 Berlin Germany Heimathafen
23 October 2011 Munich Muffathalle
25 October 2011 Amsterdam Netherlands Paradiso
26 October 2011 Paris France Bataclan
27 October 2011 Cologne Germany Live Music Hall
28 October 2011 Hamburg Markthalle
30 October 2011 Zoetermeer Netherlands Boerderij
31 October 2011 London United 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 2011 New York City Best Buy Theater
12 November 2011 Philadelphia Temple Performing Arts Center
13 November 2011 Boston Berklee Performance Center
15 November 2011 Montreal Canada Corona
16 November 2011 Toronto The Opera House
18 November 2011 Chicago United 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.

Date City Country Venue
United States and Mexico[20]
4 April 2012 Seattle United States Showbox
6 April 2012 San Francisco The Fillmore
7 April 2012 Los Angeles House of Blues
9 April 2012 Dallas House of Blues
13 April 2012 Mexico City Mexico Metropolitan
South America[20]
15 April 2012 Caracas Venezuela Hotel Eurobuilding
17 April 2012 Santiago Chile Teatro Oriente
18 April 2012 Teatro Caupolicán
19 April 2012 Buenos Aires Argentina Teatro Flores
21 April 2012 Sao Paulo Brazil Via Marquês
Europe[20]
25 April 2012 Malmö Sweden KB
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 Germany Alte Feuerwache
4 May 2012 Paris France Le Trianon
6 May 2012 Saarbrücken Germany Garage
7 May 2012 Stuttgart Theaterhaus
9 May 2012 Pratteln Switzerland Z7
10 May 2012 Milan Italy Alcatraz
11 May 2012 Rome Orion
13 May 2012 Dortmund Germany FZW
14 May 2012 Brussels Belgium AB
15 May 2012 London United Kingdom Shepherd'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

Year Nominee / work Award Result
2012Grace For Drowning[2]Best Surround Sound AlbumNominated

Progressive Music Awards

Year Nominee / work Award Result
2012"Raider II"[32]AnthemNominated
Grace for Drowning (Deluxe Edition)[32]Grand DesignNominated

References

  1. ↑ Steven Wilson – Grace For Drowning
  2. 1 2 Nominees And Winners | grammy.com Archived 1 February 2012 at the Wayback Machine
  3. ↑ "Video: Steven Wilson's Track One". Sound and Vision Magazine. Retrieved 10 August 2011.
  4. ↑ "Video: Steven Wilson's Index". Yahoo! Music. Archived from the original on 11 July 2012. Retrieved 10 August 2011.
  5. ↑ "WNYC Soundcheck: Like Dust I Have Cleared From My Eye". WNYC. Archived from the original on 19 August 2011. Retrieved 10 August 2011.
  6. ↑ "Exclusive: Porcupine Tree Guitarist Steven Wilson Premieres "Remainder the Black Dog" Music Video". Guitar World. 31 August 2011. Archived from the original on 3 November 2011. Retrieved 2 October 2011.
  7. ↑ Grace for Drowning by Steven Wilson, talk
  8. ↑ BD Music News – Steven Wilson's 'Grace For Drowning' Will Be Released On Sexy Blu-ray
  9. ↑ The Raven that Refused to Sing – Concert Review
  10. 1 2 Grace for Drowning – Steven Wilson | AllMusic
  11. ↑ "Steven Wilson : Grace For Drowning". loudersound.com. Retrieved 11 May 2021.
  12. ↑ "Steven Wilson – Grace for Drowning – OUT NOW". gracefordrowning.com. Archived from the original on 6 January 2012. Retrieved 26 December 2011.
  13. ↑ "Review". ox-fanzine.de.
  14. 1 2 "Steven Wilson: Grace for Drowning (Deluxe Edition)". popmatters.com. Archived from the original on 24 February 2012. Retrieved 29 November 2011.
  15. ↑ David Fricke."Grace for Drowning – Album Reviews". Rolling Stone. 22 November 2011.
  16. ↑ "Steven Wilson – Grace For Drowning (Album Review) – Stereoboard UK". Stereoboard.com. Retrieved 25 September 2011.
  17. ↑ "Credits". Album's Official Website. Kscope. Archived from the original on 22 July 2011. Retrieved 20 July 2011.
  18. ↑ Grace For Drowwing official's Website, Deluxe Edition infos
  19. ↑ John Wesley's personal website , 21 November 2011
  20. 1 2 3 4 5 "Live". Album's Official Website. Kscope. Archived from the original on 22 July 2011. Retrieved 20 July 2011.
  21. ↑ "dutchcharts.nl – Steven Wilson – Grace For Drowning". dutchcharts.nl. Retrieved 1 October 2011.
  22. ↑ "Oficjalna lista sprzedaży :: OLiS – Official Retail Sales Chart". Retrieved 7 October 2011.
  23. ↑ "FIMI Federazione musicale industria italiana (archive)". Archived from the original on 19 December 2014. Retrieved 14 October 2011.
  24. ↑ "Steven Wilson – Grace For Drowning". hitparade.ch. Archived from the original on 17 October 2011. Retrieved 6 October 2011.
  25. ↑ "lescharts.com – Steven Wilson – Grace For Drowning". lescharts.com. Retrieved 15 October 2011.
  26. ↑ "ultratop.be – Steven Wilson – Grace For Drowning". ultratop.be. Retrieved 15 October 2011.
  27. ↑ "Steven Wilson – Grace For Drowning". austriancharts.at. Archived from the original on 16 July 2015. Retrieved 15 October 2011.
  28. ↑ "finnishcharts.com – Steven Wilson – Grace For Drowning". finnishcharts.com. Archived from the original on 20 December 2011. Retrieved 15 October 2011.
  29. ↑ "Steven Wilson – Grace For Drowning – Music Charts". aCharts.us. Retrieved 15 October 2011.
  30. ↑ "Steven Wilson – Official page". Steven Wilson. Retrieved 2 October 2011.
  31. 1 2 3 "Steven Wilson – Grace For Drowning – Music Charts – AllMusic". Retrieved 24 November 2011.
  32. 1 2 "Progressive Music Awards 2012 Nominees". Progrock Music Magazine. 4 July 2012. Archived from the original on 6 July 2012. Retrieved 4 July 2011.
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