Fear of a Blank Planet

Fear of a Blank Planet is the ninth studio album by Porcupine Tree. The concept of the album was heavily influenced by Bret Easton Ellis’ novel Lunar Park.
The lyrics deal with two typical neurobehavioural developmental disorders affecting teenagers in the 21st century: bipolar disorder and attention deficit disorder, and also with other common behaviour tendencies of youth like escapism through prescription drugs, social alienation caused by technology, and a feeling of vacuity—a product of information overload by the mass media.
Steven Wilson described the main character of the story as “…this kind of terminally bored kid, anywhere between 10 and 15 years old, who spends all his daylight hours in his bedroom with the curtains closed, playing on his PlayStation, listening to his iPod, texting his friends on his cell phone, looking at hardcore pornography on the Internet, downloading music, films, news, violence…”.

Fear of a Blank Planet Tracklist

  1. Fear of a Blank Planet
  2. My Ashes
  3. Anesthetize
  4. Sentimental
  5. Way Out of Here
  6. Sleep Together

Fear of a Blank Planet Production Credits:

Porcupine Tree – producers
Steven Wilson – mixing, audio mastering, string arrangements
Dave Stewart – string arrangements
Steve Price – engineer
Lasse Hoile – photography

Porcupine Tree

Steven Wilson – vocals, guitars, piano, keyboards
Richard Barbieri – keyboards and synthesizers
Colin Edwin – bass guitars
Gavin Harrison – drums

Additional musicians

Alex Lifeson – guitar solo on “Anesthetize”
Robert Fripp – soundscapes on “Way Out of Here”
John Wesley – backing vocals
Orchestra – London Session Orchestra

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