Steven Wilson: The Future Bites (2021)

Steven Wilson’s 2021 album The Future Bites is an exploration of how the human brain has evolved in the Internet era. Featuring gorgeous electronic sounds warped by human intervention (King Ghost), soaring acoustics that head into the stratosphere (12 Things I Forgot), relentless bass-driven Motorik grooves (Follower) and swampish, murky funk (Eminent Sleaze), it is SW’s most consistent work to date. The album was recorded in London and co-produced by David Kosten and Steven Wilson. 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 affects 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.