To the Bone

Wilson cited progressive-pop records of his youth, Peter Gabriel's So, Kate Bush's Hounds of Love, Talk Talk's The Colour of Spring and Tears for Fears' The Seeds of Love. All music is Wilson's, with the lyrics of the title track by Andy Partridge. Ninet Tayeb sings on several tracks, Craig Blundell and Jeremy Stacey drum, Nick Beggs and Robin Mullarkey play bass, Adam Holzman keyboards, David Kollar and Paul Stacey guitars, Mark Feltham harmonica, Sophie Hunger sings on "Song of I" and Dave Stewart arranged strings. Lasse Hoile made the cover. Singles were "Pariah", "The Same Asylum as Before", "Song of I", "Permanating" and "Refuge".

It reached 3 in the UK, his highest, 1 in Finland, 2 in Germany and 58 on the Billboard 200. Wilson told uDiscover it is the most accessible record he has made under his own name, and PopMatters reported a Top 10 record across Europe and his best-selling to date. Metacritic gave 77; Sputnikmusic gave 4.5 of 5, while Drowned in Sound gave 4 of 10, saying he focused more on the idea of writing a pop record than on actually delivering the goods, and The Quietus criticized an edgeless approach. A DPRP round table scored it 9.5, 8, 8 and 5.