Porcupine Tree is back! After a hiatus of over a decade (during which PT founder Steven Wilson was involved in solo and other projects), the band is back as a trio (for now). And they are in fine form with their first single release, which follows in the musical vein of their last three albums, particularly their brilliant 2005 album Deadwing.
With a propulsive, bass-heavy rhythm and textured atmospheres that move from 10/8 to 6/8, bookending a lovely, calmer middle section in 5/4 (the song never stoops to such pedestrian time signatures as 3/4, 4/4 or even 7/8), this is PT at their finest. The lyrics are expectedly impenetrable (a harridan is "a strict, bossy or belligerent old woman…a shrew, witch, nag, scold.") And the video for the song is a schizoid psychedelic video being shown on a video screen. (I'm sure there is a self-referential meaning there somewhere.) If this song is an accurate harbinger of the rest of their 11th album -- Closure / Continuation (Music for Nations/Megaforce Records), it is going to be a monster.