Steven Wilson Steven Wilson: New album 'The Overview' for early 2025

[sjcorne]

I see Jonathan is credited with checking the mix.

Of course I'm biased, but here's some play-by-play on the Atmos mix: https://immersiveaudioalbum.com/steven-wilson-the-overview-5-1-surround-sound-dolby-atmos/

 

[peterzach]

Of course I'm biased, but here's some play-by-play on the Atmos mix: https://immersiveaudioalbum.com/steven-wilson-the-overview-5-1-surround-sound-dolby-atmos/

Jonathan, great review of the album

 

[srbjab]

My BD copy is out for delivery, today. After the last two albums, I'm genuinely not sure what to expect with this one but will keep an open mind.

 

[minimumtumbleweed]

Giving it a listen in stereo now. Hopefully will have the BD next week

Update: It's pretty good! Not my favourite from SW, but definitely not bad. The first track is definitely the better one.

 

[Thonolan]

I'm very curious about this one, given that the opinions/reviews I'm reading so far seem to be extremely divisive. Thanks for another amazingly detailed review, @sjcorne!

This is one I'll stream before buying. I'm still a big SW fan, but his recent output tends to be hit and miss for me, so just like @srbjab I have no idea what to expect.

 

[sjcorne]

One thing I noticed was interesting with regards to the stereo version - on the streaming services, you get the choice of just listening to the two long tracks or to each of the separate movements that make up each side. But on these separated movements, some of the transitions seem to have been altered.

For example - "Objects: Meanwhile" immediately cuts into "The Cicerones" (when the acoustic guitar starts to fade in after the big sax blast) when you listen to the full-length side 1. But on the separated tracks, "Meanwhile" plays to a clean ending - and then the acoustic starts to fade in on the next track after a second or two of silence. Same thing on "Ark" into "Cosmic Sons of Toil" - the former plays to a clean ending, and then the swirling synth that kicks off the latter fades up from silence instead of starting immediately.

Personally I like it better as the two big chunks without fades between movements (and that seems to be your only option for listening in surround), but curious what other people think.

 

[minimumtumbleweed]

One thing I noticed was interesting with regards to the stereo version - on the streaming services, you get the choice of just listening to the two long tracks or to each of the separate movements that make up each side. But on these separated movements, some of the transitions seem to have been altered.

For example - "Objects: Meanwhile" immediately cuts into "The Cicerones" (when the acoustic guitar starts to fade in after the big sax blast) when you listen to the full-length side 1. But on the separated tracks, "Meanwhile" plays to a clean ending - and then the acoustic starts to fade in on the next track after a second or two of silence. Same thing on "Ark" into "Cosmic Sons of Toil" - the former plays to a clean ending, and then the swirling synth that kicks off the latter fades up from silence instead of starting immediately.

Personally I like it better as the two big chunks without fades between movements (and that seems to be your only option for listening in surround), but curious what other people think.

Interesting. I didn't listen to the separate tracks, but I did notice as I was listening to the longform that the times for the separate tracks didn't quite match up logically. For example, "Perspective" is 4:57 long in the separate tracks, but is only 4:42 in the long track.

 

[Thonolan]

Just gave it a first listen on Apple Music in Atmos. I never do this - it might be the first time in my life I've listened to an album for the first time in multichannel instead of stereo. But I think the sound design is so essential for modern SW music that I thought it was the right thing to do. And wow, even in lossy streaming I'm very impressed by the mix. It's basically demo Atmos material from start to finish!

Musically, I think it will be a grower, but I already found a decent number of beautiful passages. I found it pretty similar to the style of The Harmony Codex overall, but in extended song form instead of shorter tracks. Let's see how it goes after subsequent listens. But I'm already sure I'm liking it enough to buy it in physical format.