Steven Wilson has revealed through his Facebook page that he finished recording his upcoming album, titled Hand. Cannot. Erase. He will be releasing it through Kscope in February 2015.
In a statement released on his Facebook page and later on Porcupine Tree‘s page, he posted the title and release date for his album, the fourth of his solo career, and plans for the upcoming tour of Europe. Wilson said they are currently developing a show that should hopefully raise the bar both musically and visually from previous tours. He also said that there might be a few surprises in the setlist. Although they will be playing songs from the new album, he will also “cast the net further back into my songwriting past for a few surprises.”
The statement also gives the tour schedule for the next few months, as he tours with his solo band to promote the upcoming album. The band is scheduled to embark on a tour of Europe in March of next year that will take them to the UK, Germany, France, Italy, Belgium, Poland, Sweden, Finland, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Czech Republic, Austria, Denmark, Sweden, Finland, Norway, concluding with a show at Zwolle, Netherlands on 23rd April.
Wilson has already been hard at work in the studio and has shared a couple of studio updates detailing the recording process. He stated that his new album will contain pop and electro elements. He has also confirmed that Nick Beggs, Guthrie Govan, Adam Holzman, Marco Minnemann and Theo Travis will be playing on the album.
He previously explained the story behind the album. “The basic story, or concept of the record – it’s about a woman growing up, who goes to live in the city, very isolated, and she disappears one day and no one notices.” He said that this was the most he could tell at the time and that “there’s more to it than that.” Wilson further explained that he was inspired by a movie he had seen recently in London called Dreams of a Life. The movie is based on the real story of Joyce Vincent, who had been dead for 3 years in her apartment before being found by anybody.
Recently, there have been rumours that Wilson is looking to reform Porcupine Tree in 2016. These claims were made by Spanish website Portale Squizofrenia, which cited a source extremely close to Steven Wilson. They refused to divulge the source’s name for professional reasons. They did clarify that the source is not a friend of a friend, but a person who is very close to Wilson himself. His representatives refused to give comments and did not wish to fuel “rumor, innuendo, supposition, wishful thinking, or any other fan-derived speculation.”