Porcupine Tree - Nil Recurring [EP]

Artist – Porcupine Tree

Album – Nil Recurring

Released – September 17 2007

Genre – Progressive Rock

Reviewed By – Nigga J

This September, Porcupine Tree released an EP of tracks that were recorded during the Fear of a Blank Planet sessions titled Nil Recurring. These songs weren’t included in the album because they were inferior, but because they had no relation whatsoever with the concept of FOABT. Besides, Steven Wilson did make a good decision as FOABP would have been a very heavy listen with the inclusion of these because the length of the actual album is about an hour long and it is short and sweet at its current length and can easily be heard in one sitting.

I just got my hands on the EP and after about a few listens, I must say it is very good as some of the songs are in fact better than those of FOABP. It is difficult to describe the sound of the EP as whole but I can safely say that this will be entertaining for fans of all eras of Porcupine Tree.

The EP starts of with Nil Recurring. A terribly complex yet beautiful instrumental featuring multiple layers and it may make one’s head spin trying to keep up with and figure out what’s happening with all the various instruments. Drummer Gavin Harrison shines on this one. It also features one of my favorite guitarists, Robert Fripp from King Crimson on leads. His presence and influence can be felt on the song and he does a really good job on it.

Following the title track is Normal. It features some really cool acoustic guitar parts and typical Porcupine Tree style overlapping vocals. It has sort of a East influenced theme like that of Sleep Together on FOABP and a few heavy distorted guitar interludes. It features an alternate chorus to Sentiment on FOABP again and it features a few samples from the song. Overall it’s a damn fine track but it could have been more original.

Cheating The Polygraph comes next. It debuted on the Arriving Somewhere But Not Here tour and was considered to be a part of FOABP but later it was cancelled as both concertgoers and the band decided that it doesn’t fit in so well. The track has some exceptional vocals and an overall a very cool feel to it as the song is constantly moves from being fast to slow. CTP also features some very good instrumental work and awesome catchy songwriting make CTP shine.

The final track on the album is What Happens Now? This can be called an instrumental as it is the longest track on the album clocking to 8:23 and features approximately only 3 minutes of vocals. This song is also wonderful and is my favorite song on the album.

Overall, there’s a good half hour of new content and I highly recommend you get this even if you remotely like Porcupine Tree. These four songs are one of their best and you’ll surely not be disappointed. It’s a short and sweet listen and it sure is awesome.

Rating: 3.5/5

Tracklisting –

1. "Nil Recurring" 6:08
2. "Normal" 7:09
3. "Cheating the Polygraph" 7:10
4. "What Happens Now?" 8:23