March 1997 - Insignificance

A couple weeks after my last release and just six months since "Signify", Porcupine Tree released an EP titled "Insignificance" in March of 1997. This EP consists of b-sides and demos from the "Signify" sessions, similar to their first EP "Staircase Infinities". Let's see what didn't make the cut for their last album!

The EP begins with "Wake As Gun 1" and Steven Wilson drives things with some light acoustic guitar and some solid vocals. Richard Barbieri adds some trippy keyboards that sound pretty cool and he also plays some epic piano that combines well with the acoustic guitar. I can ser why this didn't make the cut, as it's not particularly exciting or catchy, but it reminds me of the psychedelic Porcupone Tree of old, and I am a fan of that. Up next is "Hallogallo" and Colin Edwin and Chris Maitland form a catchy little rhythm section and we hear a weird, low voice overtop. Wilson plays some cool guitar overtop all of this and Barbieri adds some more trippy and pretty cool keyboards. This is a solid little instrumental tune and it leads right into track 3, a different version of the album's title track "Signify". It just sounds like an unpolished version the song that would make the actual album: the riff is the exact same, it just doesn't sound quite as good, like there's been no production on anything yet. Even though it's clearly the lesser version, it's still pretty good, the song is just that solid! On "Signify" we had Waiting Phase One and Phase Two, but the next song is just called "Waiting". It also sounds like a bare bones version with parts that would end up being on both phases. Just like the last song it doesn't hit quite as hard as the polished album version, but it's cool to see where the ideas came from before they decided to make this into two songs. Track 5 is "Smiling Not Smiling" and Wilson carries this song with a ton of great guitar and some typically smooth vocals. He plays a lot of different guitar styles in this one song and they all sound cool in their own way. This one should've made the album for me, and the end of it leads right into the next track "Wake As Gun 2". The first minute of this song is a Reprise of the opener, but the second minute is a space-y and psychedelic ride with some solid drums by Maitland. I like it, it reminds me of early Pink Floyd. Track 7 is "Neural Rust" and Edwin plays a cool little bass riff to keep the pace while Wilson plays some nice guitar overtop. The main guitar riff is solid, but when Steven goes off in a not-quite-solo things sound really cool. After a few cool minutes things shift to a lighter and dreamier mood temporarily, then they nicely snap back into the main riff. This is a nest six minute instrumental song, which might be why it didn't make the cut, but I thought it was pretty cool! The next track is "Dark Origins" and it's driven by a slow and pretty repetitive main riff. Wilson does some wordless "ahh"ing overtop the space-y riff and he and Barbieri both play some trippy stuff to keep things interesting. The song is nearly seven minutes though and there's just not enough happening for it to be a really good song so I can see why this didn't make the cut. Track 9 is "Sever Tomorrow" and it's pretty damn close to the track "Sever" that made the album. The chorus in this version isn't as loud and epic, but otherwise this sounds very close to the finished product. Which means it's a decent song, but this one sounds too similar. The final song on this long EP is "Nine Cats (Acoustic Version)", which is originally off their debut album. It's just Steven Wilson and he does a fantastic job of both singing in his usual great voice and playing some cool acoustic guitar that just flows so perfectly. It'a really well done and a great way to finish things off.

That is the end of "Insignificance" and I thought it was pretty good for an EP of B-sides. It naturally wasn't good as any of their full albums, but there were a couple cool songs on here for sure, as well as some earlier versions of album songs. In the EP ranks I'd put it ahead of "Staircase Infinities" but I can't wait to hear the next studio album from Porcupine Tree!