PORCUPINE TREE — Lightbulb Sun (review)

PORCUPINE TREE — Lightbulb Sun album cover

Album · 2000 · Non-Metal

4/5 · 2022-06-18
siLLy puPPy

My gateway drug into the world of PORCUPINE TREE wasn’t the acclaimed “In Absentia” or even the earlier psychedelic freak shows in the form of “The Sky Moves Sideways” but rather an innocent thrift store find in the name of LIGHTBULB SUN. I had heard of this band but didn’t know much about them and i can’t say i was blown away upon first listen. Sounding something like a modern Pink Floyd meets 90s alternative rock band, PORCUPINE TREE took a while to sink in but in the end the band won me over with its unique mishmash of past prog teased out in the modern world of production and mixing splendor. While LIGHTBULB SUN has not become my favorite PT album of all time, this one does hold a special place in my heart as my first encounter with Steven Wilson and friends.

LIGHTBULB SUN is the sixth overall studio album from PORCUPINE TREE released in the Y2K year of 2000 and was the third and last release of their second phase between the psychedelic earlier years and the prog meets alt metal later chapter. The album is divided into two parts. The first half is called “Rest Will Flow” and the second “Hatesong.” The first half of the album continues the art of progressive pop as heard on “Stupid Dream” with super catchy melodies that are really what we music nerds call crossover prog. The instantly ear wormy “Shesmovedon” for example takes a single listen to burrow it’s way into your inner playlist and sticks around for a while. The second side of the album showcases the band’s more experimental side. This strategy was implemented by many of the classic prog bands of the latter half 70s when the genre waned in popularity and the artists were trying to straddle both sides of the fence and forced to stuff a whole career into an album or two’s experience. PORCUPINE TREE however walks the tightrope fairly damn well and nailed that aspect of the album in full modern regalia.

Overall LIGHTBULB SUN is a much mellower album than “Stupid Dream” and the preceding “Signify.” There seems to have been a slight retrograde here in the alt rock department but that would all change with the following breakthrough album “In Absentia” however even mellow chilled out style PORCUPINE TREE is inventive, creative beyond belief and yet totally accessible with influences up the ying yang without sounding like Dolly the sheep’s clone. Once again this band delivers a set of interesting material that is easy to digest even upon first listen but offers more beyond a superficial first experience. Comparisons have been made to Wilson’s space pop group No-Man on this one and it’s certainly not unfounded but the other band members contributed their own energy into the band which keeps it distinct from the various Wilson projects. Another factor that makes LIGHTBULB SUN different from its predecessors is that Wilson wrote songs about personal experiences rather than abstract concepts.

Like “Stupid Dream,” the strength of LIGHTBULB SUN beyond the infectious melodies, excellent vocal harmonies and beautiful arrangements is the attention paid to the details. By this point Wilson’s production and mixing talents had reached sheer perfection and that is clearly evident on the seamless transitions (amongst everything else) between tracks on this album. The band captures the perfect mood of dream pop meets dream rock in the vein of Radiohead only a bit more accessible on this one. This one may be too commercial for hardcore proggers but when done properly, progressive pop can be exhilarating! PORCUPINE TREE has made a career out of drifting over that line that separates true prog from barely prog. LIGHTBULB SUN is probably the best example of this band doing just that. The album is made all the richer with the help of several guest musicians including an entire string quartet therefore violins, a viola and cello sounds find their way into the mix at all the right places. The band members themselves add many ethnic sounds courtesy of not only the banjo but a dulcimer, beglama and guembri.

With the second track “How Is Your Life Today?” we are reminded of the influence of The Beatles with that classic Paul McCartney show tune piano roll and keeps it mellow until it cedes to the heavy rocker “Four Chords That Make A Million” a seeming throwback to the conceptual themes of “Stupid Dream.” The track “Shesmovedon” is perhaps PORCUPINE TREE’s best known single with an instantly catchy melody in the vein of Pink Floyd’s “Wish You Were Here” only broken down into various parts that culminates into the most sizzlingly hot guitar solo on the entire album despite being the most poppy track. Honestly it’s one of those love / hate tracks where but ultimately i just can’t resist its simplistic nature coupled with the complex layers of sonic mastery of the production, mixing and instrumentation.

My favorite tracks on LIGHTBULB SUN are “Last Chance to Evacuate Planet Earth Before It Is Recycled” and “Russia On Ice,” the former starting out like a bluegrass festival with a psychedelic space rock backing. The track tackles some deep subject matter with the concept of the Earth recycling itself in the cosmic changes complete with a spoken word sample from Marshall Applewhite, the leader of the Heaven’s Gate religious cult who organized a mass suicide in 1997 the Comet Hale-Bopp fiasco thus proving Wilson was still quite capable of thought provoking subject matter. “Russia With Ice” is probably the most badass song on the roster as well as the longest track at just over 13 minutes long, the proggiest space rock track of the album. It pretty much runs the PORCUPINE TREE gamut from this phase. Catchy melodies on slo-mo, psychedelic accoutrements, though-provoking lyrics and the ultimate balance of dynamics backed up by impeccable production and mixing, which despite some naysayers can be essential ways of expressing creativity. A big yes in this case.

Like all the albums from the phase 2 period of PORCUPINE TREE, this album is not perfect. There are several sleeper tracks that deliver a big yawn for me. In the case of LIGHTBULB SUN it is the less than thrilling track “The Rest Will Flow,” the sleepiest track on board “Where We Would Be” and the disappointing closer “Feel So Low.” Despite hinting at greatness, PORCUPINE TREE just missed a few marks on LIGHTBULB SUN compared to the maestrohood of the triumvirate perfection that would follow but overall this album is excellent and even the sleepy tracks don’t dissuade too much from the album’s overall consistency. My only problem with this album is that it went too far in the pop direction and avoided excessive progginess which is really where i want to go most of the time! Yeah, call me a sappy bitch but i like many of these crossover prog albums that deliver an insufferable multitude of production techniques backed up by rather simplistic musicianship. This album is a perfect example of how complexity does not have to come from the musicians themselves but from the ingenuity of sound manipulation and clever juxtaposition of musical motifs.