Porcupine Tree - NilRecurring

Wed 20th Feb, 2008 in Music Reviews

Originally released in September 2007 as a limited edition EP via the band’s online store Burning Shed, the latest Porcupine Tree material Nil Recurring was highly sort after. Due to the overwhelming demand, the EP will be released to the public on Peaceville Records from 18th February 2008.

Nil Recurring is too good to be dismissed as a set of B-sides from their previous album, Fear Of A Black Planet. Although all four songs were written around the same period, this EP is a solid entity in its own right and deserves some respect.

It starts with the title track that brilliantly ebbs and flows in typical PT fashion. The six-minute epic makes you think whether vocals are an overrated element in modern music. It takes a special quality to produce an instrumental tune that doesn’t sound repetitive, and is possibly the reason for the aptly named song – Nil Recurring.

To the uninitiated, the second track Normal, will sound just that – normal. But every PT fan will be familiar with its chorus; as a slightly altered version of Sentimental, from Fear Of A Black Planet. But this is not a bad thing. It just shows how Porcupine Tree have a knack of cramming a plethora of ideas, styles, and riffs into one song and making it blend perfectly.

The EP ends with a schizophrenic slow-fast mix called Cheating The Polygraph and a flamboyantly chilled What Happens Now?

The 29 minute sensation that is Nil Recurring, compliments A Fear Of A Black Planet so well, and has to be checked out by everyone.