Track Listing

1. Blackest Eyes
2. Trains
3. Lips Of Ashes
4. The Sound Of Muzak
5. Gravity Eyelids
6. Wedding Nails
7. Prodigal
8. .3
9. The Creator Has A Mastertape
10. Heartattack In A Layby
11. Strip The Soul
12. Collapse the Light Into Earth

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #2341 in Music
• Released on: 2002-09-24
• Number of discs: 1

Amazon.com
After a quarter-century of punk and postmodern excesses, it's always something of a surprise to find young musicians who not only recall a past era's musical indulgences, but also revel in them. This Lava Records debut is the latest fruit of Porcupine Tree mainstay Steven Wilson's obsession with prog, a mania that dates to the late '80s when the "band" was little more than a fantasy, though one with a remarkably imaginative--if entirely fictional--history and bio. But that pipedream eventually became a real "alt prog" cult fave, with these dozen ambitious songs finding a focus that occasionally eluded the band on half-hour soundscapes like its underground hit, "Voyage 34." Tracks like "Gravity Eyelids" have a retro-psychedelic feel that would have done the XTC alter ego Dukes of Stratosphear proud, with Wilson's pure melodic tenor pushing it beyond the merely baroque. But the collection is also a strong statement of another crucial Wilson/Porcupine retro-sensibility: The album has unified musical statement. "Lips of Ashes" and "Prodigal" serve up the sort of impressionistic, harmony-rich musings that Pink Floyd has rarely managed since Wish You Were Here, while "The Creator Has a Master Tape" punctuates the rich harmonies of tracks like "Heart Attack in a Layby" with Crimson-esque metallic thrash and processed vocals. While the band's instrumental prowess sometimes slums its way into the free-form jazz noodling of past efforts, the album remains one of the band's fullest achievements. --Jerry McCulley

Album Description
Hailed by Billboard as 'cinematic...simple gorgeous', Porcupine Tree are unquestionably one of the UK's most inspired and inventive rock groups. In Absentia is their eagerly anticipated Lava Records debut. Digipak. 2002.

Album Details
2002 Album from the Longtime Progressive Rock Outfit that Includes a Bonus Three Track CD for a Limited Time.

Customer Reviews

Another fine album by the band
At the time this was released (2002), my general impression of In Absentia was that it was pretty heavy, but not noticeably so. What I like the most about this album (and band for that matter) is the emotional sophistication of the music - in combination with their solid musicianship it makes for a very rich listening experience.

Musically, the band is very tight and the trademark Porcupine Tree blend of haunting and sad minor chords, fine vocals, atmospheric synthesizer parts and heaviness works very well. I especially liked the fact that they had moved on from the slightly lighter and "poppier" sound of Lightbulb Sun (2000) - In Absentia is a very dark album overall. Although all of the tracks are very enjoyable, my favorite is the sad piece entitled Heart Attack in a Layby.

With respect to instrumentation, I enjoy the synthesizer textures that Richard uses - they are mainly used to simulate strings and are used as a sustained backdrop rather than a melody line. The mellotron (samples?) are also quite nice. Steve's guitar textures/timbres include delicate acoustic sections, clean tones on an electric, and a thunderous, "crunchy" tone on the electric. Overall, the contrast of the light and the heavy is quite nice and was a hallmark of the best progressive rock from the 1970s. It is also worth noting that In Absentia features new drummer Gavin Harrison for the first time on a PT studio album - I find his overall technical approach to be very similar to the previous drummer (that is a good thing by the way).

This is a great album by a very interesting post-progressive band that continues to create exciting music. For those folks interested in the bands earlier, more ambient works, excellent examples include The Sky Moves Sideways (1995) and Signify (1996).

One of Porcupine Tree's best works? Maybe....
The majority of PT fans believe this is their best album to date and are in love with it. But I do believe it is over hyped. The album does not seem to flow as well together as the rest of their albums...and at times it seems all over the place. Here is a track by track detail:

1. Blackest Eyes - Its a really good opener...I like the pause toward the end of the song and the chorus is very catchy.
2. Trains - A spectacular song and one of PT's most beautiful pieces to date, a song that everybody should really like.
3. Lips Of Ashes - Amazing display of vocal harmonics....sit down and just listen to this song.
4. The Sound Of Muzak - Once again another song with a very catchy chorus.
5. Gravity Eyelids - Hard to describe this song or my liking for it. A lot of PT fans love this song, but I don't get too excited when listening to it. It starts off quiet and slow, then has a hard riff section then back to the slow part.
6. Wedding Nails - A heavy instrumental, and a great one.
7. Prodigal - The best song on the album in my opinion. It is perfectly scripted.....great song!
8. .3 - This song is up there with Prodigal, very nice and soft song.
9. The Creator Has A Mastertape - Very different from anything PT has done, very fast and upbeat.
10. Heartattack In A Layby - Another amazing display of vocal harmonics, this song will blow you away.
11. Strip The Soul - Great song, you can see where PT is heading with their future albums based on this song. It is heavy.
12. Collapse the Light Into Earth - Very slow/mellow song with piano and vocals....I think it drags a bit much.

Great album, but like I said the music is sorta all over the place. I am not sure if it was recorded at different times which could indicate the different sound through out the album. Or if the introduction of Gavin Harrison caused some late decisions to change some songs up (as the album was written before Gavin came to record the album).

Either way it is a fantastic album by PT, I don't consider it their best...I see it more as an experimental album for the band themselves, as they were trying to find the next direction (that was only imminent) that they would go in. But every PT fan should get this album as it does have several classic PT songs and it is an important phase in Porcupine Tree's history.

PS: This album also produced a few really good B sides such as "Drown With Me", "Futile" and "Chloroform".

Great Music from a Great Band!
I am a relative new comer to Porcupine Tree. A longtime fan of progressive or just good music in general, I can't believe I am just now finding out about this great band. Better late than never though. Being a musician myself, I appreciate good musicianship and especially tasteful playing. I started out with In Absentia and Deadwing. Next came Fear of a Blank Planet and the newly released Nil Recurring. The first time I heard both In Absentia and Deadwing I was not real impressed. Looking back, I think this was because I had very high expectations from reading the reviews here - and the music is so different than anything I expected. After a couple of more listens to In Absentia and Deadwing, I couldn't get enough! In Absentia and Deadwing each contains enough great music to make most other artists catalogs envious. The musicianship is impeccable as is the song crafting and even the album flow. If you have not heard Porcupine Tree, set aside some money and start collecting their CD's. Start with In Absentia or Deadwing. When you get the CD's, set aside some listening time and play them all the way through. From there I would get Fear of a Blank Planet and it's follow-up CD, Nil Recurring or the excellent concert 2 DVD set, "Arriving Somewhere." I now have every studio album from PT except for "On the Sunday of Life". Each album is unique and pays you with its own rewards. If you like good music, you are going to like PT. Two of their slightly older CD's have been remastered and contain a bonus DVDA 5.1 DTS mix of the entire CD with bonus tracks. If you have a good surround sound system, these are must have CD's. They are "Lightbulb Sun" and "Stupid Dream." The surround mixes are excellent and are not gimmicky like some others are. It's an experience all its own. Needless to say, I am excited to find this great music that is PT and will be writing a review of each album as I have time. I just know that for music lovers, you have a hole in your life that needs to be filled with the music of Porcupine Tree. Start listening now and you will never be the same.