Coma Divine: The Music of Porcupine Tree - Part V

Stupid Dream – 1999

“Maybe it’s time to stop swimming”

After a three year gap Porcupine Tree return with a completely different sound. While this may not be surprising to long time fans of the band, Stupid Dream was the start of a new calmer style of music from the quartet. What we have here is Porcupine Tree in its barest form – dare I say, radio-friendly? This is quite the controversial record. Any hints of the previous four albums have been ditched in favor of a more acoustic and lyrically driven record. Sort of a Nick Drake influenced sound. Very singer-songwriter sounding. And while the music is the foremost subject on my mind, I find I’m focusing quite a bit of thought on the albums cover(s). The original cover is taken in what I assume is a CD printing factory. This is a delightful little bit of foreshadowing of what is to come on the record. That feeling of cold cynicism of music companies and the ideals at the industries very core. Quantity vs quality. Cashing in on the next big names that will disappear in a month. And while the 2006 reissue still features the man and the CD, something of that original emotionless environment is lost to us. Needless to say I much prefer the original cover art to the reissue.
As I stated earlier, this is a different kind of Porcupine Tree. For one, all the songs are surprisingly short and succinct. One never feels that overwhelming feeling that can be felt on all their other records. But I don’t view this as a band thing. I predominantly listen to Stupid Dream when I’m doing any kind of school work. It manages to capture my attention while still allowing me to concentrate on what I’m doing, (something I would never try with The Sky Moves Sideways.) Nothing is overdone and everything has a much more rehearsed and less improvisational feel to it. Again, not necessarily a bad thing. This is the sound of a band evolving and branching out and exploring new sounds. Too often musicians create albums that sound like a copy of another band in hopes of “widening their fan base”. Porcupine Tree manages, amazingly, to avoid that bullet and incorporate much more of their influences into the music without it becoming insignificant. This album is also interesting because it spawned the bands first music video. And it’s just a weird as I would expect from Wilson and co. I’m not sure how much air-time the music on Stupid dream received in 1999 but I think it introduced the band to a whole new audience, (and re-introduced the musicians to their existing fans.) This for all intensive purposes could be Porcupine Tree's most accessibly recording. I have introduced several of my friends to the band through this record. It’s by far the easiest album to wrap your head around and does so without making its listener feel in the presence of something greater then you can comprehend. After all, these people are only human.