“I don’t like change. Please don’t change on me. Let’s just stay the same. Movement doesn’t come easily.”
And so, with a sense of anxiety and weariness, vocalist and guitarist Nick Crider intones to open the title track of Change (Ossein Records), the latest record by Richmond, Virginia four-piece Dumb Waiter.
“Progressive rock” is a term that can encompass a wide variety of sounds. At one point or another in their 35-year history, Porcupine Tree — the brainchild of Steven Wilson — have probably touched upon most of these. Having put out several albums of electronica-infused psychedelic space rock since their formation in 1987, the band reached a peak of critical and commercial success in the 2000s with the metal-influenced experimental songcraft exemplified by In Absentia and Fear of a Blank Planet. By the start of 2011, however, Porcupine Tree appeared to be no more, with Wilson announcing a hiatus to focus on his solo career; he stated as recently as 2018 that getting the band back together “would seem like a terribly backward step”.