AXIOM OF CHOICE

The music

Lay On The Tracks is the opening track. It opens with friendly strumming acoustic guitar, twinkling keys, peaceful, peaceful. The singing is typically British (not so strange for a Brit), a bit on the hazy side. The music then gains in pace and gets to the quite heavy, bouncy and vibrant. I am thinking of King Black Acid here. The song does not yet have the appeal of some of my favourite KBA songs, but they are cutting it close.

Perpetual Night Shift has smooth echoey ahhhs and is rhythmically quite modern. One of the things about Vulgar Unicorn and this project is that they try to incorporate recent music into progressive rock in the same way that Porcupine Tree is trying. The latter band is also the main reference if you want to learn what Pineapple Thief is like. It is easy to float away on this song on which we later hear choral keyboards combined with something reminiscent of Greek music.

Kid Chameleon is typical British rock in Porcupine Tree style, lots of details, lots of variation. Wonderful. Later the music winds down for some still acoustic guitar and doubled vocals. Incubate is a more straightforward rock track with a catchy chorus and jumpy rhythm guitar.

Doppler is again in a more PT influenced style with a somber intermezzo. The transitions are again well-done and the acoustic playing is beautiful. After Ster, we come to the echoey and spacy 137. At first the song has a definite lone desert feel, later its gets to be more raw, edgy and angular almost King Crimson like.

Release The Tether features a flute while How Did We Find Our Way? and Preserve are in a style now already familiar. Warm Me is a bit noisy and has a certain Buggles feel, possibly becuase of the vocals. For the rest: many strings and a beautiful piano.

Pvs is by far the longest track on the album going from a long dreamy beginning and the combination of Fender Rhodes piano and percolating acoustic guitar to a loud hallucinating rock part reminiscent of Led Zeps Kashmir. Wow. The slumbering intermezzo sounds like breathing.

Md One is mainly acoustic playing with some very strong melodic material.

Conclusion

Before I wrote my final thoughts on this album, I read Bollenberg's review of the album in iO Pages. He was extremely enthusiastic, and my impression at the time was one of scepticism, but I have changed my mind in the mean time. This is in fact a huge step forward from their debut album (or am I simply warming to their sound?). Great melodies, songs and plenty of atmosphere make this a good place to look for all you Porcupine Tree devotees.

© Jurriaan Hage

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NEW HORIZONS

'137' is the second album from Pineapple Thief, who are composer and lyricist Bruce Soord (of Vulgar Unicorn) on guitars, vocals, keyboards, samples & programming; Adrian Soord - mellotron, fender rhodes, prophet 5, piano & synths; Nick Lang - drums, percussion & backing vocals, and the bassist Mark Harris.

The music on this album is rich, mellow and warm and most of the tracks are song based with mainly guitar led instrumentation.  The CD is accompanied by an eight page booklet containing all of the lyrics, set over quite ordinary pictures that are presented in strong hues of lurid saturated colours.

The first song, 'Lay On the Tracks' sets the scene for the album.  A gentle start soon gives way to the stronger, luscious instrumental work that supports the fabulous voice of Bruce Soord.

The vocal performance on 'Perpetual Night Shift' is breathy and spine tingling - the music is almost ambient, yet at the same time is stimulating; constantly changing and subtly evolving as the piece progresses.

'Kid Chameleon' is a huge soundscape, with short portions of multi-tracked singing creating understated focus points within the glimmering, velvety depths of the vibrant instrumentation.

The intro to 'Incubate' has a lighter feel, and this continues throughout the number.  The vocals have an a sweet, 70's pop-like appeal; while the music is right up to date and redolent with synth sounds and the skittish rhythm that leads the track ever onwards.

The vocals on the next track, 'Doppler', are supported by slow paced, haunting, synth-led sections of music.  This is punctuated in the early stages by a short section of strong guitar work, and later it develops into a slightly jazzy, more ambient outro.

The jazz influenced ambience continues through 'Ster'; while the instrumental 'Release the Tether' has an otherworldly feel, with a variety of different instruments contributing to  the piece's overall feel - in particular some very fine guitar work that is softened by the use of choral voices in the background.

'How Did We Find Our Way?' is an excellent song with a sublime vocal performance.  The instrumentation is sumptuous, with deeply toned bass and heavily layered synths flowing beneath the lush guitar work.

The title track, '137',  has a mysterious ambience with heavy reliance on synths.  The oft repeated vocal lines have a muffled tone and are buried within the music, while jangling guitar work lifts the mood.

Rich orchestration introduces 'Preserve', a song with a upbeat bass line, strong guitar work and closely harmonised vocals.

'Warm Me' is a light hearted song - another with more of a retro-pop feel.  Yet the heavily textured instrumental work belies this and lends the track a modern feel and strong a appeal.

'PVS' opens with acoustic guitar, moody instrumentation and a jazz rhythm.  This eleven and a half minute piece meanders through a myriad of instrumental moods - the song itself taking up a very small part - where sections of strongly riffing guitar work are contrasted against smoothly flowing synths with a regimented rhythm backdrop; then spacey sounds lead into another sector of richly embroidered guitar work, and so it goes on ... an updated version of 70's prog heaven!

The closing track, 'MD One', is a slow paced number that at first appears to be a muted and low-key end piece - listen again and you'll realise that this is an delicate jewel with surprising depths within its simplistic exterior.

'137' is a superb album and, had I come across it when it came out, it would certainly have made my top five for last year.  The music draws comparisons with bands such as Porcupine Tree, No-Man and Miles very quickly to mind, yet Pineapple Thief definitely have their own sound, and it is a sound that is very much worth seeking out.  This comes very highly recommended...

Marisa   24th July, 2002

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PROGFEAKS REVIEW

In the confined chambers of the world, where computers and their connections bring an entire generation under the spell of electronic dreamy depression, where isolation slowly seeps into the collective DNA of humanity, and desperate disillusion extends its somniferous roots across the world, that's where one will find Pineapple Thief. The post-alternative culture of those with sweetened melancholy in their hearts has already been tainted by the likes of Radiohead and Porcupine Tree with wide strokes of primary colors and sweeping emotion, but the shape and size of this essence is still in the making, and Pineapple Thief has brought its offering with open heart and blessed gracefulness. And 137 will be received with open arms and recognition as the newest collection of hymns for the rising collective.

Lush and dreamy, yet frighteningly real and human, this collection of thirteen songs floats with a psychedelic edge that grafts itself onto a wonderful sense of melody and catchiness. Guitars become textures resembling a gallery of multihued tapestries and motifs, swirling synthesizers with dreamy effects reach for the sky and then dig deep into the confines of the Earth, stark samples of metallic vacuousness give the music a modern edge of desperation, and gorgeous ballads alternate with rock appeal in a beautiful hour of musical luminosity. The gentle vocals of Bruce Soord will at one point reflect the naïve innocence of a young boy and at another a moody darkness of illegal intimacy, and the music will of course follow suit. Balance, beauty, and modernity are all to be found in the plush sounds of Pineapple Thief.

The sonic opium that the music of this British band embodies will surely suspend the listener's mind in a state of intimate euphoria, and the exhilaratingly numbing rush will lodge itself deep into the recesses of one's nervous system. The dreamy perfume of poppies, spread worldwide by no means other than gorgeous music, will rest assured absorb growing numbers of youths eager to bite into the rich world of Pineapple Thief. And the resulting display of dreamy soundscapes will undoubtedly remember some of Porcupine Tree and Radiohead too much, but even those will fall prey to this album. 137 : Coming to a connection near you.

-by Marcelo Silveyra

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137 DPRP REVIEW

After the relatively big success of the first Pineapple Thief album Abducting The Unicorn , Bruce Soord and companions have decided to create a successor to their debut, which Lang had done as a side-project from his regular band Vulgar Unicorn . Indeed some Vulgar Unicorn references can be heard, but the album is much more guitar oriented and in his song writing skills he comes close to Porcupine Tree 's Steve Wilson. This is the main reference for the musical style on the album (and coincidentally both bands have the same acronym PT). Also (earlier) Radiohead is a good reference point. There is something more coincidental about this album. I was wondering about the strange title of the album, 137. Looking at the poll results of their debut Abducting The Unicorn in the 2000 DPRP poll , I saw that that album ended up in place number....137. Well, how about that, DPRP as an inspiration for an album title ?

The album is written with "old-fashioned" instruments in mind: Mellotrons, Prophet 5 and analogue synthesisers and Fender Rhodes are used throughout the album, on the one hand creating a very rich but stylish sound, but on the other hand the abundant use of tremolo effects becomes somewhat annoying in some parts. Also the bass-playing seems rather uninspired. For the rest: the keyboards, guitars and vocals are excellent, the drumming is functional but not stunning. 137 is a very much melody based album therefore.

The album opens very Porcupine Tree like, I almost thought I was listening to an unpublished Lightbulb Sun track, although Soord's excellent vocals come closer to Radiohead. It is clear from the first song on that this is an album that can grow on you and you will listen to it much more often than to a lot of other albums. The Porcupine Tree/Radiohead cross-over style continues throughout the album. Kid Chameleon is a bit more esoteric than the first two tracks, however the heavy guitar riffs in the breaks put you down to earth again. It features some very fine guitar solo work, slowly, not a single note too much, like David Gilmour used to do.

I believe that if Radiohead is able to get a hit with their Pyramid Song , Pineapple Thief has some commercial potential as well. One of the best bets will be the short (therefor radio friendly) Incubate , which is a cross between Radiohead and a tat of U2, both in music and in vocals. But the next track is in my opinion much better, especially the second half which features a (real) string quartet and an excellent melodic guitar line. It has a bit of the Last Chance To Evacuate Planet Earth Before It Is Recycled feel. Release the tether is dark and moody and the first half reminded me of the Rick Wright solo album Broken China , although the second half has an enormous drive to it, like early Porcupine Tree. Very good track! As a side-note, it is a bit of a shame that the track order on the album is different than is denoted on the booklet, which caused me some minor confusion.... The longest track on the album is the excellent pvs . With its subtle opening, the driving middle section, and pastorale closing, it managed to send some shivers down my spine. When a single track succeeds in doing so, an album is already a winner for me, as this does not happed very often. This track must be a treat to see live!

Well, as you must have guessed by now, I believe that if you like Porcupine Tree, Radiohead and (to a lesser extent) Pink Floyd , this album is a must. Not because it is a funny clone or something (as often is the case in the metal world with Dream Theater clones), but because this is an album that can rival with the first two bands in terms of composition and songwriting. Try it, you won't be disappointed!

Conclusion: 8 out of 10.

Remco Schoenmakers

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STORMBRINGER

Pineapple Thief are:

Bruce Soord: Guitars, Vocals, Keyboards, Samples & Programming
Adrian Soord: Mellotron, Fender Rhodes, Prophet 5, Piano, Misc. Synths
Nick Lang: Drums, Percussion, Backing Vocals
Mark Harris: Bass Guitar

Tracklist:
1. lay on the tracks (4:44)
2. perpetual night shift (5:27)
3. kid chameleon (6:56)
4. incubate (3:28)
5. doppler (7:33)
6. ster (4:05)
7. release the tether (5:09)
8. how did we find our way? (3:54)
9. 137 (5:09)
10. preserve (5:44)
11. warm me (3:36)
12. pvs (11:29)
13. md one (3:48)

After the success of the first Pineapple Thief album 'Abducting The Unicorn' , Bruce Soord and companions have decided to create a successor to their debut, which was done as a side-project from their regular band Vulgar Unicorn.

After listening to this album quite a few times now, and even though I liked it the first times, it grows on you the more you listen to it. There are a few influences I can hear within the tracks, a little of Porcupine Tree and early Radiohead, especially some of the vocal style, but taking nothing away from Pineapple Thief, this is an excellent album.

The first track 'Lay On The Tracks' s tarts quietly with some nice acoustic guitar and keyboards, once Bruce's excellent vocals come in, the track starts to build, and let me tell you, this is a very catchy song with some great lyrics

"This is a love song about nothing
because there's nothing in my head.
Another love song, made for nothing
so can I close my eyes instead?"

On the whole this track is fairly mellow, and has some great guitar and keyboards.

The second track 'Perpetual Night Shift', once again starts off fairly mellow, I just love the keyboards effects that Pineapple Thief have adopted into their tracks. Towards the middle there's a superb guitar solo, reminds me a bit of Radiohead, and I will point out that on this album Bruce's vocals to me are more towards Radiohead's vocal style, rather than the Smashing Pumpkins style I heard on their previous album ''

'Kid Chameleon' , starts with some nice acoustic guitar, percussion is added, then slide guitar, this track again to me has a slight Radiohead feel to it. Then we have a change in direction, and an electric guitar comes in, intricate at first, then getting heavier, this then returns to some more intricate work with some atmospheric sounds coming in over the top, once again the vocals are superb, there's some stunning guitar work, full of emotion, with some spacey sounding keyboards.

The next track 'Incubate' , starts with a few sound effects before the electric guitar comes in, then when the vocals come in, you get this echoey kind of keyboard effect. This is another catchy song and the shortest track on the album.

'Doppler' , is an excellent track which contains a fair amount of mellow passages, and some fairly heavy guitar work too, the guitar sound has quite a lot of distortion to it. Towards the middle, there's a section when it's more atmospheric with some nice acoustic guitar and mellow keyboards, but with time this gradually starts to build and towards the end there's some excellent guitar work.

The seventh track is 'Ster' , starting with the vocals sounding like they were done in the room next door, before the track really starts, nice acoustic guitar and another catchy song, later there's some nice keyboards and guitar. Possible single material?

The next track 'Release The Tether' , starts with some atmospheric sounds, keyboards and guitar, there's some nice flute sounds and at this point there's a slight middle eastern flavour, in comes some heavier guitar work, then after a while we return to the middle eastern flavour, not for long though, its now back to some more heavier guitar sounds. Then there's a change in direction becoming more atmospheric sounds with some heavy guitar sounds coming in. Towards the end we have a change to keyboards and this continues playing to the finish.

'How Did We Find Our Way?' , flutes, acoustic guitar, fine drums, and some fairly mellow vocals from Bruce, Lots of emotion to this track.

long ago
I remember ever minute of the days
would go so fast we didn't notice we were here to stay
how did we find our way?

For me, if Pineapple Tree decided to release a single from this album, it would be this one.

The next track is the title track '137' , another catchy song, but there's a part of it, that reminds me of something else, but I just can't put my finger on it at the moment. There's quite a lot of sampling on this track, and once again there's some excellent keyboards and guitar.

'Preserve' , starts with piano and some strings, very nice, kind of soothing, nice vocals from Bruce and a little while after, heavier sounding guitars come in. Quite a lot of changes in direction on this track.

The next track 'Warm Me' , starts with heavy guitars, then quiets down when the vocals come in. Another catchy song with some good guitar work.

'PVS' , is the longest track on the album at 11 mins and 29 secs, and starts with some nice keyboards and acoustic guitar. Excellent vocals once again from Bruce coming over with lots of emotion. Although I have to say I find the music is full of emotion too, there's some wonderful keyboards and a little later the heavier guitar sounds come in, this doesn't last long before going to more of an atmospheric keyboards sound, back to heavy guitars. Then we have some excellent acoustic guitar and then this fades to a drum machine with atmospheric sounds coming in, a while later the acoustic guitar returns and then more heavier guitars and a superb guitar solo. When this eventually fades you are left with some spacey sounding atmospheric sounds, and gradually the acoustic guitar returns and also some strings, then a piano and this continues to the end.

The last track is 'MD One' , and is another catchy little number, full of emotion with some excellent keyboards and guitar.

This album features quite a few of what I would call 'old fashioned' instruments, Mellotron, Prophet 5, Analogue Synthesisers and a Fender Rhodes and these are used throughout the album.

And for me, this is what has helped to create the Pineapple Thief sound, there are some excellent tracks on this album, try 'PVS', 'How Did We Find Our Way?' , 'Kid Chameleon' and 'Doppler' for starters, but to be honest, I couldn't fault any of the tracks on this album, they are all excellent.

One thing that did confuse me on reviewing this CD is the fact that the tracklisting in incorrect on the CD, but the listing above is correct.

If you are a fan of their previous album, bands such as Porcupine Tree and Radiohead, then this album is a must.

Highly Recommended!!!!

Released by Cyclops Records (CYCL 106)
33a Tolworth Park Road, Tolworth, Surrey, KT6 7RL.
Website: http://www.gft-cyclops.co.uk
Pineapple Thief web site: http://www.pineapplethief.com

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PROGNOSIS http://www.silverdb.com

Taking some instruments that are the prime reference of the 70's progressive movement, such as Mellotron and Analogue Synths, Pineapple Thief are not representative of that era. On the contrary, this album - 137 - is a treat of the most recent psychedelic prog orientations, with leanings toward alternative and post-pop music.

While listening to this beauty, one can distinctively point out connections to the cool psycho soundscapes of Porcupine Tree and Vulgar Unicorn (being this a side project of one of its members - Soord). But what I find more reminiscent in this album are the paranoid post-pop structuring of Radiohead. From the vocals provided by Bruce Soord, much in the same tone and way of singing of Tom Yorke (with occasional incursions to Bono Vox singular voice), to the dense and ever-changing distorted turmoil of its music while maintaining a very melodic and catchy sounding.

With their second release, Pineapple Thief have reached a state of grace with their frenzy guitar drawings and acoustic sets, using Mellotron to the better effect without ever sound retro. The songs are delightful to one's ears, while bouncing from lush to edgy, from calm and introspective to explosive and mood lifting.

If you are going to listen to this for the first time, just try out Kid Chameleon and you will be immediately convinced of the bands ability to play cup-of-tea music. This is plain brilliant.

This is neither light nor easy listening music, though it's uprising and can create a small euphoria state in the listener. In the hour that it lasts, the album transports you through every kind of mood you can imagine: darkness, grief, joy, perplexity, clearness...and so on. A real mature and successful album that provides you a complete package of mind states through carefully crafted and tasty compositions.
In a sentence: This is really good!

http://www.silverdb.com

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EMPIRE MAGAZINE

March 2002 (issue 62) - German

Irgendwie ist das Debüt des Vulgar Unicorn-Ablegers Pineapple Thief 'Adbducting The Unicorn' bei Cyclops ziemlich untergegangen. Vielleicht lag es einfach nur daran, dass die Platte 1999 vor dem grossen Porcupine Tree-Boom erschienen ist und daher relativ unbeachtet blieb. Das gleiche wird wohl mit dem Nachfolger '137' nicht passieren. Schon der Opener 'Lay On the Tracks' resst durch Ohrwurm-und Hitqualitäten mit und beweist das die Initialengleicheit mit Porcupine Tree nicht nur Zufall ist. 'Perpetual Night Shift' geht es dann etwas ruhiger an, aber die etwas psychedelische Note bleibt trotzdem erhalten. Bei dem ein oder anderen Song werden auch Erinnerungen an die alten It Bites wach. Oft überwiegt eine relaxt-melodische Stimmung, ohne jedoch zu langweilen. '137' ist ein tiefsinniges-inspirierendes Album ohne Ausfälle geworden. Das schlechteste an dem Album ist zweifellos einmal mehr das Cover. Ein Problem, das Cyclops anscheinend auch gar nicht den Griff bekommen will. Nachdem man bei 'Abducting The Unicorn' noch einem 25minütigen Long-Song fröhnte, konzentrieren sich Pineapple Thief hier auf den 70 Minuten mit 13 Songs auf kompakteres Material wie z.B. das fast schon eingängige 'Invincible' (hat mit knapp über 3 Minuten auch die richtige Radiolänge). Nur das über 11 minütige 'PVS' fällt aus diesem Rahmen. Sicherlich kann man diesen PT jetzt vorwerfen, die anderen PT zu kopieren, aber vielleicht könnte die Frage auch lauten, wer war in seiner Entwicklung zuerst an diesem Punkt angelangt? PT oder PT? Auf jeden Fall sollte man um jede Band froh sein, die die Musikszene abseits der ausgetretenen Pfade bereichert und die den ein oder anderen 'Ohrwurm' fabriziert, der die Band fürs Radio interessant machen könnte. Außerdem ist der PT-Pfad noch längst nicht so ausgetreten wie der DT-Pfad. Früher oder später werden sich auch die 'großen' Medien umorientieren müssen, nachdem der Geschäftszweig (Pop-) Musik sehenden Auges in den Abgrund steuert. Momentan versucht man ja eher, sich den Schlager- und Volksmusikfreunden zu widmen, weil die meistens keinen CD-Brenner haben.

Michael Bäcker

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