Now twelve albums into their career, the time seems ripe for Britain's Pineapple Thief to finally break through the progressive pop/art rock underground into more mainstream waters. It's not like they haven't come close in the recent past, with such accessible albums like All the Wars, Magnolia, and Your Wilderness all hinting at possible greater acceptance on a more global level. Here with Dissolution, Bruce Soord and Co. have put together an immediately warm & comfortable collection of songs brimming with catchy melodies, alluring instrumentation, charming vocals, and a mix of styles that just screams of an arrival to the big stage.
Of course, having Porcupine Tree/King Crimson drum virtuoso Gavin Harrison on board yet again is a big plus, and he's in top notch form throughout Dissolution, lending his incredible skills to superb tracks such as the lovely pop ditty "Uncovering Your Tracks", the soaring prog of "Threatening War", and the charming, instantly memorable "Try As I Might". Steve Kitch's bubbling keyboards provide a solid underbelly for the driving guitar riffs of Soord & Darran Charles on the haunting yet hard rocking "Far Below", also a great vehicle for Soord's enchanting vocal melodies. The floating, slow-building prog of the 11-minute "White Mist" provides the albums most extended rave-up, but again, The Pineapple Thief never go completely off the rails, the atmospheric, almost futuristic keyboards and layers of guitars never hiding what is ultimately another great slice of pop from this very capable band, but surrounded with plenty of prog-rock layers. Throw in a couple of savage guitar solos that would make Robert Fripp proud, and you have one of the easy highlights of the album. "Shed a Light" and "All That You've Got" are two more crisp, memorable rockers that will instantly appeal to any Porcupine Tree/Steven Wilson fan, the arrangements bright and the melodies grabbing you instantly and never letting go.
I've been following The Pineapple Thief through a good portion of their career, and I'll be the first to admit that I've been a bit 'hit or miss' with some of their albums, but Dissolution is a complete home run from the band, a release that grabs you from the very first listen and keeps getting better with successive spins. Call it prog, pop, art rock, or whatever, Dissolution is ultimately just great music that is ready made to take the world by storm.
See more about this release on our recent YouTube show!
1) Not Naming Any Names (2:05)
2) Try As I Might (4:26)
3) Threatening War (6:37)
4) Uncovering Your Tracks (4:29)
5) All That You’ve Got (3:27)
6) Far Below (4:36)
7) Pillar of Salt (1:25)
8) White Mist (11:05)
9) Shed a Light (5:20)
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