Metal Wani's editor-in-chief Owais 'Vitek' Nabi had a chat with the "King Of Prog Rock", Porcupine Tree's Steven Wilson. In the clip below he discusses the songwriting ideas on 4 ½, how the songs are related to Hand.Cannot.Erase. as well as new album, why he prefers to write songs which make him angry, melancholic, sad which connectes with the fans on an emotional level. Wilson also offers his thoughts on how his music touches lives of people, why he is attracted to melancholic music, how people recognize themselves through his music, why the songs on 4 ½ didn't fit in on Hands.Cannot.Erase or The Raven That Refused To Sing. Check out the in-depth interview below.

After the success of Steven Wilson’s Hand. Cannot. Erase. tour of North America earlier this year, he has announced that he will be returning for more live shows in March 2016.

Dates:

March
1 - Toronto, ON - Massey Hall
2 - Montreal, QC - St-Denis Theatre
3 - Albany, NY - The Egg
4 - Boston, MA - Orpheum Theatre
5 - New York, NY - Beacon Theatre
7 - Chicago, IL - Vic Theatre
8 - Chicago, IL - Vic Theatre

Tickets on sale Friday, December 4th. More details here.

January 22nd will see the release of a new Steven Wilson album, 4 ½, so titled because it forms an interim release between Steven's recently released fourth album Hand. Cannot. Erase. and the next studio album.

4 ½ comprises six tracks with a total running time of 37 minutes. Four of the songs originated during the sessions for Hand. Cannot. Erase., and one from the recording sessions for the previous album The Raven that Refused To Sing. The final track is a version of “Don't Hate Me”, a song originally recorded by Porcupine Tree in 1998, and is based on a live recording made on the recent tour of Europe with additional recording later done in the studio. The vocals on this new version are sung as a duet between Steven and Ninet Tayeb.

Also appearing on the album are members of Steven's band over the last few years; Adam Holzman, Nick Beggs, Guthrie Govan, Dave Kilminster, Craig Blundell, Marco Minnemann, Chad Wackerman, and Theo Travis.

4 ½ will be released by Kscope on CD, 180 gram vinyl, and blu-ray, with all formats housed in a beautiful die-cut sleeve photographed by Lasse Hoile and designed by Carl Glover. The blu-ray (audio only) edition includes high res stereo, a 5.1 mix of the album, and a bonus 5.1 mix of the new version of Lazarus (recently included on the Transience vinyl compilation). The vinyl edition will include a download code for the album in a choice of FLAC or mp3. Pre-order here. The album will also be available digitally on January 22nd from iTunes, Amazon, Google Play and Apple Music.

4 ½ tracklisting:

“My Book Of Regrets”
“Year Of The Plague”
“Happiness 3”
“Sunday Rain Sets In”
“Vermillioncore”
“Don’t Hate Me”

With sold out shows around the world including his 2 recent performances at London’s prestigious Royal Albert Hall, Steven Wilson will continue to tour throughout 2016. Starting in Germany on January 12th, the 2016 European tour takes Steven to Belgium, Holland, UK, France, Denmark, Sweden, Finland, Russia, Hungary, Italy and Greece. For full tour details head here.