As a 29-year-old progressive rock nerd (translation: I’m either way too young to fully grasp Wilson’s sadness or already too old to escape it), I’ve spent countless hours spiralling into his discography. So, here’s my highly subjective, but definitely correct ranking of his top 10 songs across his several projects.
10) Truenorth (No Man)
No Man is Steven Wilson's project with Tim Bowness. It is the type of band you listen to when you want to float into the abyss and question everything in your life. "Truenorth" is an atmospheric, cinematic masterpiece that feels like getting lost in a dream you don't want to wake up from. It’s ambient, delicate, and filled with that signature Wilson tune that makes you stare at your ceiling at 3 AM.
9) Pain (Blackfield)
Blackfield is an art rock project by Steven Wilson and Israeli musician Aviv Geffen. One day Wilson woke up and thought, "Why don't I accumulate all my sadness in a 3-minute rock song instead of pouring it into a 17-minute song?". That was probably where the idea of making a project like Blackfield came. And it worked really well. "Pain" is one of those simple yet emotionally devastating songs. It's very catchy and moody (especially that guitar solo) and leaves you with a feeling that your imaginary girlfriend has broken up with you. If this song were a person, he or she would quote Charlie Chaplin's "I always like walking in the rain so that no one can see me crying."
8) The Sky Moves Sideways—Alternate Version (Porcupine Tree)
This is a kind of song for those nights when your sleep is optional because your thoughts are way too loud. It's like an odyssey, very hypnotic, and you can just zone out completely. The way it builds over time is pure progressive rock magic. From the start, the ambient passage drags you into a cosmic trance, and just when you think you have achieved nirvana, it shifts into a part where you'd feel completely void.
7) Anesthetize (Porcupine Tree)
This song has one of the most complex time signatures Steven Wilson has ever made. It starts with 4/4, shifts to 19/8, then ends with 23/8. Yeah, still, it's one of those that makes you want to leave everything and become a hobo without actually leaving your bed! A 17-minute behemoth that perfectly captures what it feels like to be alive but completely numb to everything; basically, adulthood in a song. It starts off hypnotic, transitions into a face-meltingly heavy section (featuring some of Gavin Harrison’s most insane drumming), and then ends with a melancholic outro.
6) Way Out of Here (Porcupine Tree)
Okay, on this one, I would like to share a little bit of the story behind the song and why it makes me shiver every time. It was written on a girl who was responsible for the Porcupine Tree page on MySpace. She committed suicide by getting hit by a train while listening to Porcupine Tree on her iPod. Then, when Steven finally performed the song, he invited her parents to sit in the front row for its debut. Wilson’s vocals, paired with Robert Fripp’s atmospheric guitar work, create an overwhelming sense of melancholy and isolation.
5) The Raven That Refused to Sing (Steven Wilson)
Wilson's most hauntingly beautiful composition. The song is the title track of his 2013 album The Raven That Refused to Sing (and Other Stories). Inspired by "The Raven" by Edgar Allen Poe, Wilson mixed his finest Progressive Rock making skills and said, "Here, cry to this.". The lyrics tell the tale of an old man who is nearing the end of his life, consumed by grief and loneliness. He once had a beloved sister who passed away when they were children, and he has never recovered from the loss. The raven, in a way, symbolises death. Steven said that the song is his desperate reminder of "something beyond death and the silence that follows.".
4) Drive Home (Steven Wilson)
Musically, it’s an absolute masterpiece. The song, written in a 12/8 time signature, tells the story of a man who has forgotten a tragic event about his wife, only to gradually piece it together in the most heartbreaking way possible. At the end, Guthrie Govan's guitar solo really sucks you through a sad, gloomy portal. If guitar solos could physically stab you in the heart, this one would. Seriously, if someone plays that solo at my funeral, I’ll probably resurrect just to cry again. By the time the song fades out, you’re left staring blankly into the void, thinking about your past heartbreaking experiences and lost time.
3) Dark Matter (Porcupine Tree)
This song doesn't feel dark. It feels like driving through an empty city at night, lost in thought. Lyrically, it’s classic Wilson: themes of isolation and the feeling that life is just a never-ending cycle of the same old routine. While the song has the same old sadness waves, we get to listen to a Steven Wilson song, Colin Edwin's bassline, however, makes it oddly comforting. Also, the song does not end dramatically; it fades with the slow realisation that life moves on, whether you understand it or not.
2) Arriving Somewhere But Not Here (Porcupine Tree)
This song feels less like music and more like a journey. It begins with a gentle, classic Wilson melody and slow, atmospheric guitar work, gradually progressing to a chaotic explosion. Then, Opeth’s Mikael Åkerfeldt steps in with a blistering guitar solo, and just when you think it can’t get any more intense, Gavin Harrison’s drumming throws gasoline on the fire. Despite this, the song does not end abruptly. It drifts into a hypnotic, fading outro, like a dream slipping away before you can make sense of it. The time signature is mostly 4/4, but the instrumental sections throw in a dramatic shift to 7/8, adding to the predictability. It’s the kind of song you can listen to when you want to destroy everything, but also one that somehow makes you calm. This is Porcupine Tree at its absolute peak.
1) Luminol (Steven Wilson)
Luminol begins with a banging bassline that’ll make you feel like you’re racing through city streets. Then it shifts gears, and the piano solo hits hard. It's like someone takes your racing heart and cradles it. This is a song about a street musician who plays every day, no matter the weather. Wilson said in an interview that he wondered if death could stop his routine. The song shifts between 7/4, 5/4, and 4/4, making it one of Wilson’s most rhythmically adventurous tracks. The opening bassline (Chris Square inspired) alone is enough to make you feel like something big is about to happen. Plus, the jazz-influenced drumming and rapid-fire transitions make this a very technical and compositional masterpiece. If you’ve never heard a Progressive Rock song or a Steven Wilson song before, start here. If you have heard his music before, listen to it again because it never gets old.
Fading out in 7/16...
Steven Wilson is a mad genius; progressive rock is the best genre in existence, and you should sometimes spend an unhealthy amount of time listening to these songs instead of doing "productive" things. But who cares? Life is short, and Wilson’s music makes it epic. So, next time someone asks you, “Why do you listen to 12-minute songs about existential dread?” Just hand them this list and tell them to get educated.
[Okay, so now, let’s be real. This list could have been twice as long and still not covered all his best work. In true Steven Wilson fashion, maybe I’ll just 'remix' and expand it in a few years.]
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