Grace For Drowning

With Grace for Drowning, Steven Wilson has undoubtedly reached his highest level of creativity and sensitivity. Creativity because of the way he masters the art of creating creepy but incredibly beautiful moods and atmospheres, along with peaceful ballads and jazzy pieces. Sensitivity because of Wilson's touching voice, which feels particularly personal on this record, and with the poignant and powerful choirs. I think Grace for Drowning is more complete than Insurgentes, which by the way is a beautiful record too. It's more subtle, yet powerful at the same time, and the jazzy elements that were used add colors and very delicate textures. Indeed, the sound on this record is truly amazing. In a strange way, you feel the music. Grace for Drowning really is worth buying. 5 stars.

Grace for Drowning dépasse toutes les attentes que j'avaient envers cet album. Certes, Insurgentes était excellent ; Grace for Drowning le devance de loin. Steven Wilson a, je crois, atteint son paroxysme en tant que musicien avec cet album. Il a encore une fois réussi a créer une ambiance sombre, mais tellement belle, émouvante et puissante. Les choeurs contribuent de manière exceptionnelle à créer cette ambiance hors-du-commun, tout comme les assonances affolantes propres à Steven Wilson. En intégrant en plus beaucoup d'éléments de jazz, comme dans certains albums de King Crimson notamment, Wilson nous transporte dans une ambiances des groupes rock-progressifs des années 70, mais avec une touche extrêmement délicate, mais puissante à la fois. La sonorité sur cet album est incroyable. Texturé et subtil, il nous fait vibrer, il nous transporte dans les mélodies, tant dans les ballades que dans les pièces plus rythmées. Bref, Grace for Drowning vaut vraiment la peine d'être acheté et mérite une écoute attentive. 5 étoiles.

Steven Wilson has to be the busiest man in music right now. He records music in four different bands, he puts out solo albums and he is the king of 5.1 mixing. So how after doing all that he had time to make his second solo outing a double CD is beyond me. The harder thing to believe is it's good. Don't get me wrong this is not "Fear Of A Blank Planet" but it's not far off. Parts of this collection of songs remind me of king crimson, some remind me of Miles in his fusion period (not his heavy stuff but the songs miles let breath) but none of it sounds like him trying to be them. Steven Wilson has a real gift of taking other people's sounds and shaping them into his own. Kind of like Bowie in the 70's. This Blu ray does take another step in the evolution of his music and as always the 5.1 mix is as good as they get. He seems to be getting better as a singer with each record as well. He has always had a nice sounding voice but he can do more with it now. The vocals at the beginning of the disc almost have a David Crosby / Graham Nash feel to them. If I have anything negative to say about this Blu ray is that without the division of the two discs that the CD version has this recording does go very long. But I feel that way of all double albums. Then again that's why we can program our players! This is a worthy addition to his already great body of work.

This must be one of best record I've ever heard! Astonishing production with great musicians and a very high level of musical creativity. I'm still totally blown away by the vocal harmonies. Steven's voice seems to get warmer and more beautiful with each new record. Perfect mix of rare beauty and eclectic-jazz-prog parts that just never can bore you. The atmosphere is dark, filled with sensibility and ambition.

Absolutely brilliant!

Seriously you just CAN'T MISS that one!