Stupid Dream

Stupid Dream is the fifth studio album by Porcupine Tree. Steven Wilson said the album deals with his own personal “insecurities and feelings” and “the usual singer-songwriter stuff” because he believed the most relatable and affecting lyrics were from a personal point of view.

“When I was writing some of the songs of the album I was very much aware of this contradiction between being an artist, being a musician, trying to be creative and write songs and, then, at the point you finish an album, the music is finished, the creative side is finished, you then have to go out and sell and market and promote. And that’s like a completely different experience. It’s not a very creative process.”

“It’s quite – in some ways – a cynical process going on having to sell your music. But you have to do it. I mean, if a modern musician is going to survive as a musician, you have to – in a sense – ‘prostitute yourself’ to try and sell your music and your art. And I was very much aware of that contradiction. If you think about that too much, it can drive you crazy, you know. It’s an absurd thing to be doing. That kind of led me thinking about when I was a teenager, when I was just starting out and I was interested in being a musician.”

Stupid Dream Tracklist

  1. Even Less
  2. Piano Lessons
  3. Stupid Dream
  4. Pure Narcotic
  5. Slave Called Shiver
  6. Don't Hate Me
  7. This Is No Rehearsal
  8. Baby Dream In Cellophane
  9. Stranger By The Minute
  10. A Smart Kid
  11. Tinto Brass
  12. Stop Swimming

Porcupine Tree

Steven Wilson – vocals, guitars, piano, samples, bass
Richard Barbieri – synths, hammond organ, mellotron, piano, glockenspiel
Colin Edwin – bass guitar, double bass
Chris Maitland – drums, percussion, backing vocals

Additional musicians

Theo Travis – Flute on “Tinto Brass” and “Don’t Hate Me”, Saxophone on “Don’t Hate Me”
East of England Orchestra – Strings (conducted by Nicholas Kok)

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"And even though I got it all now
My only stupid dream
I see you and me together
And how it should have been"