Steven Wilson 4 ½

The forthcoming EP of previously unreleased / unfinished tracks originating from the Hand. Cannot. Erase. sessions. Some of this new/old material will also feature in the forthcoming September dates, concluding with the Royal Albert Hall shows.

One of the most eclectic and prolific artists in rock music, Steven Wilson has been writing, recording, and producing music continuously since the age of 10.

Since the start of 2012 Steven has been writing and recording a third solo studio album, with the members of his touring band. Principal sessions for the album took place in Los Angeles during September 2012, with legendary producer Alan Parsons engineering. The album will be released in February 2013, followed by an extensive tour. The current line up of the band is SW, Guthrie Govan (guitar), Adam Holzman (keyboards), Theo Travis (flute / sax), Nick Beggs (bass / stick), and Marco Minnemann (drums).

The EP is a mini album consisting of previously unreleased material, mostly from the HCE writing sessions, including the fairly long piece My Book of Regrets that we played on the recent tour. This project will essentially be album "4 and a half", a companion to the main album, but also a stepping stone to the next album proper. I’m proud of the pieces on it, which are by no means “leftovers”, more like pieces that just didn’t fit in at the time, and subsequent reworking and additional composition has taken place since. This should be released in January, at which point we will be back on the road for another major touring period that will continue on and off until the Summer, and take in a lot of countries for the first time.

1. My Book of Regrets (9.23)
2. Year of the Plague (4.15)
3. Happiness III (4.31)
4. Sunday Rain Sets In (3.50)
5. Vermillioncore (5.09)
6. Don’t Hate Me (9.34)

22nd January will see the release of a new Steven Wilson album “4 ½”, so titled because it forms an interim release between Steven’s recently released fourth album Hand. Cannot. Erase. and the next studio album.

4 ½ comprises 6 tracks with a total running time of 37 minutes. 4 of the songs originated during the sessions for Hand. Cannot. Erase., and one from the recording sessions for the previous album The Raven that Refused to Sing. The final track is a version of Don’t Hate Me, a song originally recorded by Porcupine Tree in 1998, and is based on a live recording made on the recent tour of Europe with additional recording later done in the studio. The vocals on this new version are sung as a duet between Steven and Ninet Tayeb.