Grace for Drowning is the second solo studio album by Steven Wilson, producer, songwriter, and frontman of Porcupine Tree. It was released by Kscope on 26 September 2011 as a double album, and his first album after Porcupine Tree's dissolution in 2010.Steven Wilson – Grace For Drowning The album received a nomination at the 54th Annual Grammy Awards for Best Surround Sound Album.Nominees And Winners | grammy.com
Background After the release of his first solo album, Insurgentes, Steven Wilson spent time on a number of his other projects. These include Porcupine Tree's album The Incident in 2009, Blackfield's third album Welcome to My DNA, on 28 March 2011, and an ongoing project with Mikael Åkerfeldt (the leader of the band Opeth) named Storm Corrosion. "Cut Ribbon" was a song written in 2001 for a collaboration with Åkerfeldt, but it didn't fit the style of what Wilson was doing at the time. Wilson eventually released the song on his SoundCloud account (with Gavin Harrison on drums), having completed the recording during the Grace For Drowning sessions. However, among all these projects, in 2010, he announced that he had started working on his second solo album as well.
In early June 2011, Wilson launched a minisite for the new album revealing the album's name and album art photographed by his longtime collaborator Lasse Hoile. Additionally, a free download of the track "Remainder the Black Dog" was also added. Sound and Vision magazine's website premiered the video of "Track One" on 10 August 2011. Not long after, Yahoo! Music debuted the music video for "Index". On 16 August, WNYC's website premiered a free download for the radio edit of "Like Dust I Have Cleared From My Eye". A video clip for "Remainder the Black Dog" was finally released on 31 August, through Guitar World magazine's website.
Upon completion of the album, Wilson said:
The special edition of the album was released on Blu-ray video disc with the music playing in 5.1 surround sound. There are accompanying visuals and videos for each track.BD Music News – Steven Wilson's 'Grace For Drowning' Will Be Released On Sexy Blu-ray
The track Raider II is based on the murders of the "BTK killer", Dennis Rader.The Raven that Refused to Sing – Concert Review
Critical reception
Reception for the album was generally favourable. Ben Bland of Stereoboard wrote positively of the album, stating "For a work so defiantly widescreen in its intentions as this, it is truly remarkable that there is nothing that could, or rather should, be accused of being filler or being over the top." William Ruhlmann from AllMusic gave a mixed review to the album and compared it to Wilson's other projects, Porcupine Tree and Bass Communion, saying "Grace for Drowning has a particular conception in terms of its emotional journey from sadness through anger to acceptance, but it is also just another in a lengthy discography of albums by Wilson under various names in relatively similar styles".Grace for Drowning – Steven Wilson | AllMusic Brice Ezell of PopMatters gave a very positive review to the album, scoring it 8 out of 10. He wrote that "[Wilson] may remain a divisive musical personality, but Grace for Drowning is such a fine listen that even the most adamantly opposed listener has to at least give him style points, both for the artistic presentation of the album and the music within".
Track listing
Personnel Credits adapted from the official website
Managerial Andy Leff – Acme Music Alex Leeks – assistant
Technical and production Steven Wilson – production, mixing Pat Mastelotto – additional production, electronic drums on "No Part of Me" and "Index" Dave Stewart – string & choir arrangements Mat Collis – engineering Paschal Byrne – mastering
Visuals and imagery Lasse Hoile – photography, film director Bettina Ejlersen – photography assistant Carl Glover – art director Ray Shulman – Blu-ray authoring
Sounding Steven Wilson – vocals on all tracks except "Sectarian", "Raider Prelude" and "Belle de Jour" Dave Kerzner – sound design on "Raider II" Synergy Vocals – choir on "Postcard", "Raider Prelude" and "Raider II"
Musicians
Steven Wilson – vocals (CD1 tracks 1, 3–5 and 7 / CD2 2–5), keys (CD1 tracks 1–5 and 7 / CD2 1–5), guitars (CD1 tracks 2, 3, and 5 / CD2 tracks 1–5), autoharp (CD1 track 2 / CD2 tracks 1, 2, 5), bass guitar (CD1 tracks 2 and 5 / CD2 tracks 1 and 4), percussion (CD1 track 4 / CD2 track 4), piano (CD1 tracks 5–7 / CD2 tracks 4 and 5), gong (CD1 track 6), glockenspiel (CD1 track 7), programming (CD2 track 2), harmonium (CD2 tracks 4 and 5) Jordan Rudess – piano (CD1 tracks 1 and 3 / CD2 track 4) Theo Travis – saxophone (CD1 tracks 2, 4 and 7 / CD2 track 4), clarinet (CD1 track 3 and 7 / CD2 track 4), flute (CD1 track 7 / CD2 track 4) Ben Castle – clarinet (CD1 track 2) Nick Beggs – Chapman stick (CD1 tracks 2 and 7 / CD2 track 4), bass guitar (CD1 tracks 4 and 7 / CD2 track 4) Tony Levin – bass guitar (CD1 track 3 / CD2 track 5)
Nic France – drums (CD1 track 2–3, 5 and 7 / CD2 track 3–5) Pat Mastelotto – acoustic and electronic drums (CD1 track 4 / CD2 track 2) Markus Reuter – U8 touch guitar (CD1 track 4) Trey Gunn – warr guitar and bass guitar (CD1 track 4) The London Session Orchestra – strings (CD1 tracks 4 and 5 / CD2 tracks 1 and 2) Steve Hackett – guitar (CD1 track 7) Mike Outram – guitar (CD2 track 4) Sand Snowman – guitar (CD2 track 4)
Deluxe Edition also contains:Grace For Drowwing official's Website, Deluxe Edition infos 120-page hardback book. Blu-ray with 5.1 surround sound mix, high resolution stereo and additional demos. Blu-ray also contains films for five tracks (directed by Lasse Hoile), photo galleries, handwritten notes and lyrics.
DVD Wilson and longtime collaborator Lasse Hoile announced in late August 2012 that a DVD, filmed live in Mexico City on the Grace for Drowning tour, would be released on 24 September 2012.
Tour Touring band members included drummer Marco Minnemann, bassist and backing vocalist Nick Beggs, guitarists Aziz Ibrahim (First European leg only), John Wesley (First US leg only), and Niko Tsonev (Second leg), keyboardist Adam Holzman, and Theo Travis on flute, saxes and clarinet. Drummer/keyboardist Gary Husband was originally announced on keys, but pulled out for medical reasons. Ibrahim was unable to tour in the US due to visa problems.John Wesley's personal website , 21 November 2011
First leg Date City Country Venue Europe20 October 2011PoznańPolandEskulap21 October 2011KrakówWisla Hall22 October 2011BerlinGermanyHeimathafen23 October 2011MunichMuffathalle25 October 2011AmsterdamNetherlandsParadiso26 October 2011ParisFranceBataclan27 October 2011CologneGermanyLive Music Hall28 October 2011HamburgMarkthalle30 October 2011ZoetermeerNetherlandsBoerderij31 October 2011LondonUnited KingdomO2 Shepherd's Bush Empire United States and Canada 8 November 2011OrlandoUnited StatesHouse of Blues10 November 2011BaltimoreRams Head Live!11 November 2011New York CityBest Buy Theater12 November 2011PhiladelphiaTemple Performing Arts Center13 November 2011BostonBerklee Performance Center15 November 2011MontrealCanadaCorona16 November 2011TorontoThe Opera House18 November 2011ChicagoUnited StatesPark West
Second leg "Luminol", from the then-forthcoming album The Raven That Refused to Sing (And Other Stories) was introduced by Wilson in January 2012 and added to the set list for the second leg of the tour.
Date City Country Venue United States and Mexico4 April 2012SeattleUnited StatesShowbox6 April 2012San FranciscoThe Fillmore7 April 2012Los AngelesHouse of Blues9 April 2012DallasHouse of Blues13 April 2012Mexico CityMexicoMetropolitan South America15 April 2012CaracasVenezuelaHotel Eurobuilding17 April 2012SantiagoChileTeatro Oriente18 April 2012Teatro Caupolicán19 April 2012Buenos AiresArgentinaTeatro Flores21 April 2012São PauloBrazilVia Marquês Europe25 April 2012MalmöSwedenKB26 April 2012StockholmGota Kallare28 April 2012BergenNorwayPeer Gynt29 April 2012OsloRockefeller30 April 2012CopenhagenDenmarkAmager Bio2 May 2012TilburgNetherlands0133 May 2012MannheimGermanyAlte Feuerwache4 May 2012ParisFranceLe Trianon6 May 2012SaarbrückenGermanyGarage7 May 2012StuttgartTheaterhaus9 May 2012PrattelnSwitzerlandZ710 May 2012MilanItalyAlcatraz11 May 2012RomeOrion13 May 2012DortmundGermanyFZW14 May 2012BrusselsBelgiumAB15 May 2012LondonUnited KingdomShepherd's Bush Empire
Charts CountryPeakPositionNetherlands22 Poland7 Italy45 Switzerland54 France96 Belgium76 Austria40 Finland30 Germany22United Kingdom34U.S. Billboard 20085U.S. Independent Albums12U.S. Top Rock Albums19
Awards Grammy Awards
| style="text-align:center;"| 2012 ||style="text-align:left;"|Grace For Drowning || Best Surround Sound Album ||
Progressive Music Awards
| style="text-align:center;" rowspan="2"| 2012 ||style="text-align:left;"|"Raider II" || Anthem || |- |Grace for Drowning (Deluxe Edition) || Grand Design ||
References