Steven Wilson, the world-renowned producer, remixer, originator and songwriter, has announced details of his eighth studio album, The Overview, which is due for release on Fiction Records on 14th March 2025.
The forty-two-minute album is Steven’s most audacious to date. It consists of just two tracks: Objects Outlive Us and The Overview, each inspired by the “overview effect” experienced by astronauts looking back at the Earth from space.
The Overview sees Steven Wilson return to expansive, progressive music, a genre he helped redefine and repopularise with both his solo and Porcupine Tree releases. The two wildly ambitious tracks are each made up of distinctive musical sections that flow from one to the other, playing out as unique and continuous pieces. Wilson’s 21st-century progressive music updates the classic ‘prog’ musical palette to incorporate everything from glistening electronics to post-rock and beyond, which brings the genre right into the beating heart of the current musical landscape.
Of The Overview, Wilson says, “It is a 42-minute long journey based on the reported “overview effect”, whereby astronauts seeing the Earth from space undergo a transformative cognitive shift, most often experiencing an overwhelming appreciation and perception of beauty, and an increased sense of connection to other people and the Earth as a whole. However, not all experiences are positive; some see the Earth truly for what it is, insignificant and lost in the vastness of space, and the human race as a troubled species. As a reflection of that, the album presents images and stories of life on Earth, both good and bad.”
Although initially a solo recording, the finished version of The Overview features studio help from regular collaborators Craig Blundell (drums), Adam Holzman (keyboards) and Randy McStine (guitars) alongside a set of lyrics from XTC’s Andy Partridge that help form the story that drives Objects Outlive Us.
The resulting album has a resolutely singular sound and vision singular that pulls pieces from different periods of Wilson’s thirty-plus-year career. There are nods to classic Porcupine Tree records as well as the world-building storytelling of The Raven That Refused To Sing and the forward-thinking electronics of The Future Bites and the spatial audio vision that ran through 2023’s The Harmony Codex. Consistent with Wilson’s reputation as a modern day producer par-excellence the album is also a true audiophile experience, and to this end spatial / Atmos audio versions of The Overview will be available physically and digitally and vinyl versions of The Overview have been specifically mastered at half speed by Miles Showell at Abbey Road.
The Overview is accompanied by a full-length film made by regular Steven Wilson collaborator Miles Skarin. A premiere for the film and album will take place at London’s iconic BFI IMAX cinema on Tuesday 25th February at 18:00 (screening followed by Q&A).
There will also be a screening of ‘The Overview’ film at Manchester Cultplex on 26th Feb. The film will be introduced by Steven introducing and he will be doing a Q+A afterwards.
The Overview is instantly recognisable as Steven Wilson and will stand alone as an utterly unique release for 2025. Headphones and a wide-open mind are recommended.
STEVEN WILSON
THE OVERVIEW
OBJECTS OUTLIVE US (23.17)
No Monkey’s Paw
The Buddha Of The Modern Age
Objects: Meanwhile*
The Cicerones
Ark
Cosmic Sons Of Toil
No Ghost On The Moor
Heat Death Of The Universe
THE OVERVIEW (18.27)
Perspective
A Beautiful Infinity I
Borrowed Atoms
A Beautiful Infinity II
Infinity Measured In Moments
Permanence
The Overview was written, produced and mixed by Steven Wilson
At home, June 2023-June 2024.
*Lyrics on Objects: Meanwhile written by Andy Partridge.
The Overview will be available on
CD / LP / Blu-ray / D2C exclusive boxset / D2C exclusive red vinyl LP + poster / retail exclusive mint colour LP / digital platforms
Following the release of The Overview, Steven Wilson will be undertaking an extensive tour of Europe in May and June 2025 which includes four nights at The London Palladium. The dates are:
UK TOUR DATES – MAY 2025
09 Symphony Hall Birmingham UK
10 Beacon Bristol UK
12 The Palladium London UK
13 The Palladium London UK
15 O2 City Hall Newcastle UK
16 Royal Concert Hall Glasgow UK
18 The Lowry Manchester UK
19 The Palladium London UK
20 The Palladium London UK