In absentia
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In Absentia is the seventh studio album by British progressive rock band Porcupine Tree, first released in September 24, 2002. It was their first release on a major record label, Lava and is widely considered to be their magnum opus. All songs were written by Steven Wilson except "Wedding Nails" (Wilson/Barbieri), and "Strip the Soul" (Wilson/Edwin).
Track listing
Original release
- "Blackest Eyes" - 4:23
- "Trains" - 5:56
- "Lips of Ashes" - 4:39
- "The Sound of Muzak" - 4:59
- "Gravity Eyelids" - 7:56
- "Wedding Nails" - 6:33
- "Prodigal" - 5:32
- ".3" - 5:25
- "The Creator Has a Mastertape" - 5:21
- "Heartattack in a Lay By" - 4:15
- "Strip the Soul" - 7:21
- "Collapse the Light into Earth" - 5:54
Special edition
Released in January, 2003. It contains a bonus disc with three extra tracks:
- "Drown With Me" - 5:21
- "Chloroform" - 7:14
- "Strip the Soul (Video Edit)" - 3:35
DVD-A
Released in March, 2004. Features the original version plus extra songs recorded during the sessions, all remixed in Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound, and the videos for "Strip the Soul", "Blackest Eyes" and "Wedding Nails".
- "Blackest Eyes" - 4:23
- "Trains" - 5:56
- "Lips of Ashes" - 4:39
- "The Sound of Muzak" - 4:59
- "Gravity Eyelids" - 7:56
- "Wedding Nails" - 6:33
- "Prodigal" - 5:32
- ".3" - 5:25
- "The Creator Has a Mastertape" - 5:21
- "Heartattack in a Lay By" - 4:15
- "Strip the Soul" - 7:21
- "Collapse the Light into Earth" - 5:54
- "Drown With Me" - 5:21
- "Chloroform" - 7:14
- "Futile" - 6:06
Concept
Though never announced as such by the members of the band, many consider In Absentia to be a concept album. It is said to be an investigation of the causes of insanity and serial killing told through the story of man from childhood through marriage, as many of the songs can demonstrate.
Steven Wilson, is always tight-lipped about the meanings of his lyrics, largely because (especially on this album) they are loose and open to interpretation. He has said that he means for the lyrics not only to be understood as part of the album's concept (serial killers, rapists, child abusers and other "deviants") but also subjectively, according to what the listener brings and assumes about them. For example, the song "Gravity Eyelids" has lyrics which seem to suggest connection to the album's concept, but Steven Wilson has also noted that it was written about an "evening by the Dead Sea." The erotic feel of the lyrics also lend themselves to interpretation as a love song.
Aside from The Sound of Muzak, which is clearly a criticism of the modern music industry, and Wedding Nails, an instrumental, all of the songs have lyrics that can be linked to the theme. Some seem vague and hard to connect: Trains, which Wilson explained as being an evocation of his memories of childhood summers, includes the lyric "you're tying me up", which shares a them with a line from The Creator Had A Master Tape, a song more clearly about an abusive family relationship.
In general, the first songs of the album seem lighter and less or more vaguely connected to the concept, as well as being musically lighter and more cheerful. With the eerie .3, the album transitions into its darker second section, which contains the songs Creator Had a Master Tape and Strip the Soul, which deal more explicitly with a family marred by abuse and murder. One fan reported on the official Porcupine Tree forum that Steven Wilson mentioned the killer Fred West as a notable influence on the album. West had a large family who he abused physically and sexually, while he and his wife lured many victims to their home to be murdered and often buried in the garden or bricked into the walls of the ever-changing house; this theme appears many times throughout the album. Another serial killer, the doctor Harold Shipman, was suggested as being the basis for the song Lips of Ashes. This song evokes imagery of veins, needles, penetration or injection, and the death of a victim being observed by the killer. Shipman was a doctor who murdered patients with overdoses of injected drugs.
However, the meanings of the songs as Steven Wilson meant them are intentionally left open and are fair game for speculation. They are meant to have different meanings and significance to each listener, so an absolute statement about the origin or meaning of one song would be impossible to make.
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