Steven Wilson Teases 'Very Strange' New Album: A Deep Dive
Steven Wilson has announced that his new album is nearing completion, promising a stark contrast to 'The Overview' and a deeper exploration of experimental soundscapes.
Steven Wilson has given fans a tantalizing glimpse into his upcoming album, describing it as "very strange" and a complete departure from his previous work, 'The Overview'. This announcement comes shortly after the launch of Headphone Dust, his platform dedicated to immersive sound experiences.
'The Overview', released last year, drew inspiration from the Overview Effect, a phenomenon experienced by astronauts viewing Earth from space. In a recent interview with the Immersive Audio Album YouTube channel, Wilson revealed that the new album is nearing completion.
"Yeah, it’s almost finished, actually,” he said, as transcribed by Blabbermouth. “It’s a very strange record. It’s a complete opposite of ‘The Overview’, which was a very lush, very big record and also about a very large — well, the largest possible subject matter you can imagine, literally the cosmos as we know it. This is a much more insular record.”
Wilson elaborated on the album's direction: “It’s still very conceptual. It’s still very experimental and the pieces are — well, it feels like another single piece of music to me, in that sense. But it’s much more angular and experimental in a way that I’m really excited about. And that’s all I can really say at the moment. Very different again, yeah.”
Earlier this month, the former Porcupine Tree musician launched Headphone Dust, an online platform offering his albums in high-resolution, 5.1, and Atmos/spatial audio editions.
Among the available items are Dolby Atmos remixes of Wilson’s 2013 album ‘The Raven That Refused To Sing’, as well as ‘The Overview’, and there is also an exclusive release of ‘Impossible Tightrope: Live In Madrid’, from the final night of his 2025 European tour. Browse the Headphone Dust store here.
He spoke about his approach to studio production in the aforementioned interview. “The way I make records is, by definition, pretty layered,” he explained. “I love the possibilities of the studio. I love overdubbing. Now on this particular new record I’m making, there’s a lot of what I would call sound design elements. Now, that’s not to say they haven’t been on all my records, but let’s just say I’ve taken it to another level on this record.”
“There’s a lot of sound design. There’s a lot of sound effects that kind of place you in a particular place and a particular feeling. And there’s a lot of use of lo-fi sounds as well, keeping things sometimes in mono… But I’m making a lot of decisions on this album to keep things very small and mono, but also knowing that those things can be just as impressive in surround because you’ve got something very small and mono. You can place it very discretely in a particular place in the room.”
Wilson's pioneering work in spatial audio extends beyond his own discography. Since 2009, he has been remixing classic albums by artists such as Tears For Fears, ABC, Chic, Ultravox, Suede, The Who, and Van Morrison.
Last year, he revealed that his spatial audio remixes of Guns N’ Roses' 'Use Your Illusion I' and 'Use Your Illusion II' were shelved due to the band's disapproval.
Wilson also spoke to NME last year about his dedication to spatial audio. “Atmos sound has nothing below you, and you could have speakers underneath,” he said. “But the big innovation won’t necessarily be in expanding spatial. I think it’s how to bring it into a live context. Right now, it’s tricky, as you need a week to acoustically calibrate and tune it, and that’s not practical when you play a new city every night. But it’s interesting to see more venues having spatial audio already installed, like The Sphere in Las Vegas.”
“If more venues do that, it gives artists chance to tour a more immersive show. I hope that will be a big progress over the next few years.”
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