STEVEN WILSON Postpones Upcoming Album "The Future Bites" for January 2021

Steven Wilson‘s upcoming album ” The Future Bites” has been postponed to January 2021, according to news published on the artist’s website today.

“…As with many of my albums, ” The Future Bites” is not just about the music, it’s a high concept project which involves design, artwork, video and a tour production, all on a grander scale than anything I’ve attempted before. However, due to the pandemic, there are unprecedented challenges, ranging from manufacturing issues (particularly in relation to the elaborate deluxe edition) and the uncertainty facing record stores as the coronavirus forces them to close their doors, to being unable to shoot most of the video material I planned.

It’s therefore with a very heavy heart that I reluctantly need to postpone the release of ” The Future Bites” until such time everything can happen as intended. This will now be January next year, with new music and video starting to be issued again around October. In the meantime the pre-order page for the various editions of the album will remain online, although I plan to take the deluxe edition off the site some time before it completely sells out, in order to give fans simply not in a position to purchase at the moment a chance to get it nearer the time. Meanwhile, myself, management, agent and promoters are monitoring the situation regarding the live shows scheduled for this autumn. Should events change we will let everyone know as soon as we do.

I understand that this may be disappointing news, and to no one more that myself, believe me. I worked on the music and background of this project for the last two years and was thrilled to finally be able to launch it. The response to the Personal Shopper track released last month has been phenomenal, and I was looking forward to unveiling more over the next few months in the build up to the release of the album. But alas due to the current circumstances it was not to be.

I sincerely send everyone reading this a message of good health, and I hope that one day in the not too distant future we can once again focus on things like music, which even if it isn’t strictly essential seems to somehow make life more worthwhile…”“The Future Bites” is an exploration of how the human brain has evolved in the Internet era. As well as being Wilson’s phenomenal sixth album, “The Future Bites” is also an online portal to a world of high concept design custom built for the ultra-modern consumer.

Where 2017’s “To the Bone” confronted the emerging global issues of post truth and fake news, “The Future Bites” places the listener in a world of 21st century addictions. It’s a place where on-going, very public experiments constantly take place into the effects of nascent technology on our lives. From out of control retail therapy, manipulative social media and the loss of individuality, “The Future Bites” is less a bleak vision of an approaching dystopia, more a curious reading of the here and now.

Musically, “The Future Bites” gleams. Featuring gorgeous electronic sounds warped by human intervention (“King Ghost”), soaring acoustics that head straight upwards into the stratosphere (“12 Things I Forgot”), relentless bass-driven Motorik grooves (“Follower”) and swampish, murky funk (“Eminent Sleaze”), it is Steven’s most consistently brilliant work to date. The album was recorded in London and co-produced by David Kosten (Bat For Lashes, Everything Everything) and Steven Wilson.

“The Future Bites” Album ArtworkOnline, “The Future Bites” is an open door to a world of purchase power where everything is marketable and nothing is too random to be put on sale. Inspired by such notable 21st century artefacts as the Virgil Abloh ceramic block and Vitality Air canned Canadian oxygen, The Future Bites is a fully designed consumer universe (built in collaboration with Baby and Crystal Spotlight) that’s been designed to be accessible and addictive to anyone from the casual fan to the hardcore collector.

“The Future Bites” tracklisting: