The year 2013 was undoubtedly marked by "The Raven That Refused To Sing", Steven Wilson's third album. If for the latter, English drew its ideas from 19th century fantasy literature, the creative process of "Hand.Cannot.Erase" has its source in a story that is also fantastic but very real. The documentary "Dreams Of A Life" tells the story of Joyce Carol Vincent, a young woman who is sociable and integrated into the hectic life of London in the 2000s, found at home, dead for two years, without having missed anyone around her during all this time. Starting from this disturbing miscellaneous fact, Steven Wilson created his own feminine character well anchored in our time who decides to observe the world around her by totally isolating herself. This strong testimony is an opportunity for Wilson, as he has already done since at least the album "Fear Of The Blank Planet", to address the subject of modernity, this time from the perspective of contemporary social relations in the era of connectivity and urbanity.
"Hand.Cannot.Erase" is the most narrative and present day work Steven Wilson has ever written, far from the impressionism of "Insurgents" and the fantasies of "The Raven". Placing the entire development of the work from the point of view of his character, he consolidates its plausibility through narratives ('Perfect Life') and unpublished interventions by a female voice, in the person of the talented Ninet Tayeb ('Routine'). Through a resolutely contemporary composition and modern production, Steven Wilson freely solicits all his creativity to ensure that music and text feed into each other throughout the disc. This absurd existentialism, emptied of the social substance of being, knows neither joy nor sadness but tragedy. It is the melodic bias so skillfully treated by Wilson to never evoke any clear-cut emotion. This concept, which conveys a truth, liberates the inspiration of the British and makes "Hand.Cannot.Erase" its most diversified, sensitive and desperate record.
The introduction "First Regret" immediately places the listener in the very special atmosphere of the record, which will be expanded as it unfolds. Ideally placed in the body of the album, three key moments structure the work. 'Three Years Older' with its vintage keyboards and its rhythmic energy reminiscent of the Who's unbridled rock, is a first progressive burst. In a more experimental style, drawing on the synthetic sounds, jazz and metal of the late Porcupine Tree, 'Ancestral' is the most complex track on the album. Finally, as the emotional keystone of the story, "Routine" is a majestic and emphatic summary of symphonic pop that refers to the latest works of Steven Wilson. It is mainly under the authority of pop ('Hand Cannot Erase' and 'Happy Returns') that the other pieces of "Hand.Cannot.Erase" coexist in electro registers ('Regret#9' and'Perfect Life'), vintage and funky ('Home Invasion') and ethereal ('Transience').
The richness of the arrangements (the male choir and the orchestrations of "Routine" in particular) and the developments in multiple details consolidate the density of the ensemble. Conductor of one of the most jubilant bands in the world, both in technical mastery (the breathtaking Marco Minnemann) and interpretative accuracy (Guthrie Govan's Knopflerien solo on "Routine" and the paroxysmal rise of "Regret#9"), Steven Wilson raises his voice to the level of his musicians' performances. His vocal interventions testify to the progress already anticipated in "The Raven" and show nuances and depth in the disturbing exercise of the male voice carrying a female sensitivity.
Photography, film or painting are arts that have always had a large place in the creative process of English. With "Head.Cannot.Erase", Steven Wilson intelligently magnifies his music with a figurative expression through a blog maintained by his character, regularly d and available online, and a prestigious edition of the album rich in archives and documents supporting even more the truth of the story. From this fourth album comes a moving and endearing authenticity that finds its explanation beyond its very high musical quality. Steven Wilson's work touches deeply and shocks by the banal proximity with everyone of this woman who is subject to the fragility and emptiness of human relationships and who, by a very strange necessity, decides to erase herself and abandon all reason to live.