Steven Wilson releases dark video for new song King Ghost

Steven Wilson has released a video for brand new track King Ghost. It's taken from his upcoming studio album The Future Bites, which will be released on CD, vinyl, cassette and on digital and streaming formats on January 29, 2021. You can watch the video in full below.

“King Ghost is one of my favourite tracks from the album and I think one of the most beautiful songs I've ever come up with, powerful in its apparent simplicity," says Wilson. "Apart from the percussion overdubs (played by Jason Cooper from The Cure, and Michael Spearman from Everything Everything) the music is entirely electronic, mostly using analogue keyboards to create luminous and organic patterns and tones. Much like the song, the video Jess has created focuses more on rich colours and expressing thoughts and feelings though more abstract images, something that takes our collaboration into new territory. It's stunning and I'm incredibly proud of the combination of the song and the video.”

King Ghost, which operates around a low bass pulse and a falsetto vocal, has been produced by Wilson and David Kosten (Everything Everything. Bat for Lashes) while longtime cohortJess Cope, who previously made films for Steven Wilson tracks The Raven That Refused To Sing, Routine and People Who Eat Darkness among others, has created the new video.

“Working with Steven is always challenging, in a good way," adds Cope. "I am constantly amazed at his ability to push the boundaries of his music as he moves with the times. I was stunned by King Ghost the first time I heard it and it immediately inspired a certain imagery in my mind. This track encouraged me to explore vibrant colour, texture and pattern. I worked with the animator I originally used on Routine; together we explored the use of ‘drawn’ animation to produce some awesome and very tactile imagery for the character in the video. We are very proud of the way both music and video perfectly compliment each other.”

The follow-up to 2017’s To The Bone had been due to launch back in June this year, with Wilson forced to move its release into 2021 due to the pandemic. Wilson is also expected to announce a run of live 2021 shows in support of record in due course.

Writer and broadcaster Jerry Ewing is the Editor of Prog Magazine which he founded for Future Publishing in 2009. He grew up in Sydney and began his writing career in London for Metal Forces magazine in 1989. He has since written for Metal Hammer, Maxim, Vox, Stuff and Bizarre magazines, among others. He created and edited Classic Rock Magazine for Dennis Publishing in 1998 and is the author of a variety of books on both music and sport, including Wonderous Stories; A Journey Through The Landscape Of Progressive Rock.