In Absentia

The first major-label album and the first with Gavin Harrison: heavier, darker, and the record that widened their audience.
Porcupine Tree, 2002

Released: 24 September 2002
Recorded: March to April 2002
Studio: Avatar Studios, New York
Label: Lava
Producer: Steven Wilson

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Most of the songs were written before Harrison joined. Paul Northfield engineered the sessions in New York, Tim Palmer and Mark O'Donoughue mixed the album at Larrabee Studios in Los Angeles, and Andy VanDette mastered it. Dave Gregory, formerly of XTC, arranged the strings on .3 and Collapse the Light Into Earth. Wilson said it was not a concept record, but serial killers, innocence gone wrong and a critique of modern life run through it, and he described its title as an absence in the soul.

Billboard called it a jarring tour de force, and it reached 58 in Germany. Elliot Scheiner's 5.1 mix won a Surround Sound Music Award in 2004. A four-disc deluxe edition in 2020 added Wilson's home demos and Lasse Hoile's documentary The Making of In Absentia.

Track listing

Blackest Eyes4:23
Trains5:56
Lips of Ashes4:39
The Sound of Muzak4:59
Gravity Eyelids7:56
Wedding Nails6:33
Prodigal5:32
.35:25
The Creator Has a Mastertape5:21
Heartattack in a Layby4:15
Strip the Soul7:21
Collapse the Light Into Earth5:54

Personnel

Steven Wilson vocals, guitars, piano, keyboards, banjo; producer
Richard Barbieri synthesizers, Mellotron, Hammond, keyboards
Colin Edwin bass
Gavin Harrison drums, percussion
Aviv Geffen backing vocals on The Sound of Muzak and Prodigal
John Wesley backing vocals on three tracks; additional guitar on Blackest Eyes
Dave Gregory string arrangements
Paul Northfield engineer
Tim Palmer mixing

More from Porcupine Tree

Nil Recurring (2007), Anesthetize (2010)

Sources

In Absentia (album), Wikipedia
In Absentia, Porcupine Tree
In Absentia, US CD, Discogs
Porcupine Tree: In Absentia deluxe, Super Deluxe Edition
In Absentia, Prog (2024-09-24)