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The first half of tonight's show is an outstanding release from The Pineapple Thief
Over the last half-decade, The Pineapple Thief - led by musical polymath Bruce Soord and bolstered by the involvement of master drummer Gavin Harrison - has rapidly ascended to the upper echelons of Europe’s Alternative Rock scene.
Versions Of The Truth - out on September 4th through Kscope - is the latest installment in the band’s deserved (and welcome) rise to success.
The band's anthemic 2018 release Dissolution garnered worldwide acclaim. Earning TPT its highest chart positions to date and the album led to two extensive European headline tours (including a headline show at London's prestigious O2 Shepherd's Bush Empire) and a hugely successful tour of North America.
With the release of its new album, The Pineapple Thief is set to raise its exceptional standards once more, having produced what may be one of the most important albums of 2020.
Versions Of The Truth represents a conceptual progression from Dissolution (a contemplation on our ‘post truth’ world)... and lyrically tackles similar themes, but from a more personal perspective. Reflecting on how there can be more than one ‘version of the truth’, the album’s songs revolve around the impact the media can have on our lives and the people we love.
Recording began at Bourne Place (London) and Soord Studios (Yeovil) after the band had completed its US tour (October 2019 to April 2020), with engineering handled by Bruce Soord and Gavin Harrison. The album has been mastered by Steve Kitch.
credits
The Japan and Porcupine Tree keyboardist Richard Barbieri releases his most sonically expansive work to date, with a brand new album entitled Planets + Persona. It is the third Barbieri solo album, but the first to feature such a wide pallet of instrumentation. Vintage analogue synthesisers combine with acoustic performances and jazz elements. Twisted voices are always present, though not in a language we can recognise. Barbieri skilfully utilises the talents of a pan-European core of musicians to produce an album that marries synthesised sounds with organic instrumentation to conjure up vivid, colourful and allusive soundscapes. It’s a skilful commingling of texture and tone, mood and musicality.
Recorded in London, Italy and Sweden, this is Barbieri’s most ambitious solo work to date with a central theme of duality that runs through the album. The title alone – ‘Planets and Persona’ alludes to this, and the dialectic theme is a constant throughout the contrasting and shape-shifting sounds of the album. Take, for example, Night of the Hunter – inspired by Charles Laughton’s only directorial movie , the piece moves through subtle shifts of atmosphere and emphasis, through melodic, dream-like sequences through to harsher tones; it’s a piece that builds to a profound cumulative effect. Elsewhere, Solar Storm shifts gears artfully, with Percy Jones’ sometimes percussive bass work contrasting to the smoother synthesiser textures incisively. Barbieri’s purely solo Interstellar Medium shows that his ability to develop and realise a theme under his own auspices that underscores his innate creativity. It’s but one aspect of a thoroughly engrossing and immersive album.
credits
Written, arranged and produced by Richard Barbieri
Lisen Rylander Löve - voices, sound design, omnichord, saxophones
Luca Calabrese - trumpet
Christian Saggese - acoustic guitar
Kjell Severinsson - drums, percussion
Klas Assarsson - vibraphone
Percy Jones - bass guitar
Axel Croné - bass guitar
Grice Peters - kora
Richard Barbieri - synthesisers, keyboards, sound design, sampler and percussion programming
Recorded at The Artillery (London), Forward Studios (Roma) and IB HQ (Halmstad)
Engineers - Richard Barbieri, Andrea Secchi, Stefano Quarta, Axel Croné, Mats Johansson
Mixed by Richard Barbieri
Mastered by Simon Heyworth at Super Audio Mastering
Cover photography - Clive Maidment
Booklet photography - Clive Maidment, Luigi Colasanti Antonelli
Design - Bill Smith
My thanks goes to the following vocalists whose voices i have used, abused and often morphed into instruments and textures -
Suzanne Barbieri, Steve Hogarth, Tim Bowness, Yukiko Taniguchi, Grice Peters
Special thanks to the following people whose help in various ways enabled me to expand the possibilities with this album -
Massimo and Rmanuele Scarparo, Mats Johansson, Paul Rymer, Thomas Olsson
Samples used under the creative commons license -- 260563 patricklieberkind (small piano motif) 80399_benboncan (radio interference)
Published by Orange Asylum Music, administered by Universal Music Publishing Group
Ⓟ© 2017 Richard Barbieri
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