Steven Wilson collaborator returns with third solo record this July
Tim Bowness recently announced the release of his third solo album, ‘Stupid Things That Mean The World’, for release on the 17th July 2015. A year on from the acclaimed Abandoned Dancehall Dreams, Bowness returns with this powerful and eclectic new record, and can now reveal the first track to be taken from it, in the form of a video. ‘The Great Electric Teenage Dream’ is the opening track from the album, and you can watch the video here:
Tim had this to say about the track:
This is the opening track from Stupid Things That Mean The World, though it was one of the last pieces to be completed for the album.
It’s partly rooted in some powerful drum patterns Pat Mastelotto recorded in 2013, but most of the song came together in one late night live session at NAM Studios in February this year. Subsequently, Colin Edwin, Andrew Booker and Bruce Soord made some additions that helped build the tension in the song further.
Stephen Bennett – who I co-wrote the song with – created the video, which has a nice ‘retro-future’ theme running through it that compliments some of the ideas in the lyric.
Produced by Bowness and mixed by The Pineapple Thief’s Bruce Soord (who also adds some choice guitar parts), ‘Stupid Things That Mean The World’ features a core of Bowness along with members of the No-Man live band (Stephen Bennett, Michael Bearpark, Andrew Booker) and Colin Edwin (Porcupine Tree), augmented by contributions from Peter Hammill, Phil Manzanera, Pat Mastelotto (King Crimson), Anna Phoebe, David Rhodes (Peter Gabriel, Kate Bush, Scott Walker), and Rhys Marsh. As on Abandoned Dancehall Dreams, Classical composer Andrew Keeling, best known for his work with The Hilliard Ensemble, Evelyn Glennie and Robert Fripp, provides striking string arrangements. The album was mastered by The Pineapple Thief’s Steve Kitch.
The beautiful artwork for the album was once again done by I Monster’s Jarrod Gosling, and you can see that below. The album will be available as Double CD Media book featuring a companion disc of alternate mixes and demos (including an unreleased No-Man demo from 1994), as well as a gatefold vinyl LP with CD & digital download.
The album is available to pre-order through Burning Shed, where people who purchase the album will receive a 5.1 flac download of the audio as well as a signed postcard: https://www.burningshed.com/store/noman/
Abandoned Dancehall Dreams was released last year to critical acclaim, with Classic Rock calling it a ‘cinematic, contemporary classic’ and Prog Magazine naming it ‘arch art-progger Bowness’s masterpiece.’ The album also reached the top 20 of the UK rock album charts upon release, and was subsequently included in Prog Magazine’s critics’ choice top 20 of 2014.
Tim Bowness is primarily known as vocalist/co-writer with the band No-Man, a long-running collaborationwith Steven Wilson (Porcupine Tree). In addition to releasing six studio albums and a documentary DVD with No-Man, Tim has worked with popular Italian artist Alice, Robert Fripp, Hugh Hopper (Soft Machine), OSI and Roxy Music’s Phil Manzanera (amongst many others), and is a member of the bands Henry Fool and Memories Of Machines
TIM BOWNESS online:
