The second single from Steven Wilson’s upcoming concept album, Hand.Cannot.Erase. was released this week, to mixed reception. The track, entitled ‘Perfect Life’ certainly comes as a departure from the style exhibited on Wilson’s 2013 release, The Raven That Refused To Sing in that it forgoes complexity to a degree in favor of simplicity (albeit stunning simplicity), leaving some fans questioning what to expect from the upcoming release. Of course, there were also those (myself included!) who welcomed this change of pace and regarded the track simply as a testament to Wilson’s musical versatility (with a hella chill beat!). Have a listen and decide for yourself after the jump!
Personally, I find ‘Perfect Life’ to be beautiful. My only criticism would be that this track strikes me as more of a transition track, especially when juxtaposed to the short bit of material brought to us through the album teaser released in January, making it an interesting choice for a single. However, if the blog posts found at handcannoterase.com are any indication, this track serves as the perfect set-up to one of the major themes of the album.
In fact, the narrative of this song comes as a direct quote from the blog post dated August 12, 2009. This begs the question as whether or not each song on the album will directly relate to a blog post, or posts, as the case may be. Either way, as evidenced by this single, Steven Wilson is doing cool things with music and media, and Hand.Cannot.Erase. is undoubtedly a release to look forward to in 2015, especially if we get a taste of that signature jazz flute action!
-EW