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Blackfield is a collaborative music project by the English musician and founder of
Porcupine Tree Porcupine Tree are an English rock band formed by musician Steven Wilson in 1987. During an initial career spanning more than twenty years, they earned critical acclaim from critics and fellow musicians, developed a cult following, and became ...
,
Steven Wilson Steven John Wilson (born 3 November 1967) is an English musician. He is the founder, guitarist, lead vocalist, and songwriter of the rock band Porcupine Tree, as well as being a member of several other bands, including Blackfield, Storm Corrosi ...
, and Israeli rock musician
Aviv Geffen Aviv Geffen (; born 10 May 1973) is an Israeli rock musician, singer-songwriter, music producer and author. In addition to his solo career, Geffen is a founding member of the band Blackfield, he was also the global music director for WeWork. Ge ...
. Together, six albums have been released under the moniker. The first two records, '' Blackfield'' and '' Blackfield II,'' saw Geffen and Wilson working together as equal partners, while the third and fourth, '' Welcome to my DNA'' and '' Blackfield IV,'' saw Geffen take on a leading role, writing all but one track across both albums and providing a significantly increased share of lead vocals. Despite initially announcing his intention to leave the project in 2014, Wilson instead worked again as an equal partner on a fifth album, '' Blackfield V'', which was released on 10 February 2017. A sixth record, ''For the Music'', was released on 4 December 2020, with Geffen again taking a leading role.


History


First collaborative era


''Blackfield I'' (2000–2005)

Geffen, a fan of
Porcupine Tree Porcupine Tree are an English rock band formed by musician Steven Wilson in 1987. During an initial career spanning more than twenty years, they earned critical acclaim from critics and fellow musicians, developed a cult following, and became ...
and Wilson, invited the band to play shows in Israel in 2000. He struck up a friendship with Wilson, leading to the two musicians recording together. Geffen performed backing vocals on two tracks on Porcupine Tree's ''
In Absentia ''In Absentia'' is the seventh studio album by British progressive rock band Porcupine Tree, first released on 24 September 2002. The album marked several changes for the band, with it being the first with new drummer Gavin Harrison and the f ...
'' album, "The Sound of Muzak" and "Prodigal". Geffen, interested in growing a fanbase outside of Israel, approached Wilson about starting their own project, which would become Blackfield. Originally planned as an EP for a 2001 release, it eventually evolved into a 2004 self-titled full-length recording. Wilson provided lead vocals on all but two songs, and played guitar or piano on every song except "Scars", which had instrumentation provided by Geffen's band "The Mistakes.” Outside of Israel, the band has received constant comparison to Porcupine Tree, Wilson's most popular project. In response, Wilson has explained:
...Porcupine Tree would never be so focused on the art of a 3 minute pop song, which I believe. Blackfield is all about the art of a great tradition pop song of verse-chorus-verse-chorus. Porcupine Tree has never been about that, although we have fraternized a little bit with the art of pop music. Porcupine Tree has always been more about horizontally complex long pieces and the album is an overall piece rather than lots of little pieces... Aviv is not a big fan of heavy music and he is not a big fan of long pieces so immediately the meeting point had to be somewhere where we were both focused on short melancholic songs.
In early 2004, the band debuted live on a couple of promotional TV performances in Israel. This line-up featured drummer
Chris Maitland Chris Maitland (born 13 May 1964) is an English drummer. Maitland was born in Cambridge, England. After being the drummer for No-Man on their Autumn 1993 tour (and playing on two tracks on their ''Flowermouth'' album), Maitland was asked b ...
(drummer of Porcupine Tree from 1993 to 2002), who was replaced by Tomer Zidkyahu for a European tour that followed in the autumn of 2004. Their first self-titled album was released in Israel and Europe in 2004, and the United States in 2005.


''Blackfield II'' (2006–2008)

While the band's first album was created over a relatively long period of time, the follow-up album, '' Blackfield II'', was created in one short burst of activity. Wilson and Geffen worked on their respective projects throughout the end of 2005, but in early 2006 Wilson moved to Israel for six months to work on the album. Wilson performed lead or co-vocals on all tracks except "Miss U", which Geffen performed all vocals on. The album was released in February 2007 in Europe and March 2007 in the United States. In the same year, keyboardist Daniel Salomon left the band to continue his successful solo career. Salomon was replaced by Eran Mitelman, former keyboardist for Israeli
hard rock Hard rock or heavy rock is a heavier subgenre of rock music typified by aggressive vocals and Distortion (music), distorted electric guitars. Hard rock began in the mid-1960s with the Garage rock, garage, Psychedelic rock, psychedelic and blues ...
band HaYehudim. The band also recorded a live CD/DVD combo, titled ''Blackfield – Live in New York City'' while touring in support of ''Blackfield II'', in March 2007. In a 2008 interview, Wilson discussed Blackfield's future at the time, stating, "I think we're going to tentatively start working on some new songs and that's as far as we've got regarding planning. I think there almost certainly will be another record. As with
No-Man No-Man are an English art pop duo, formed in 1987 as No Man Is an Island (Except the Isle of Man) by singer Tim Bowness and multi-instrumentalist Steven Wilson. The band has so far produced seven studio albums and a number of singles/outtake ...
and my other projects, there's no reason to stop doing them as long as the music keeps flowing."


Geffen-led era


''Welcome to my DNA'' (2009–2011)

In January 2009, to promote his first English-language European release, Geffen went on a small tour of Europe with the Blackfield live band, with Wilson being billed as a special guest. Half of the set consisted of songs from the then yet-to-be-released first English language solo album by Geffen, while the rest was a selection of Blackfield songs. Wilson would also appear on three tracks from the album. In April 2010, Geffen and Wilson entered the studio to begin writing the follow-up to ''Blackfield II''. However, this time, all songs, with the exception of the track "Waving", were written by Geffen, as Wilson had been concentrating on his second solo album, '' Grace for Drowning'', at the same time. Wilson only performed lead vocals on five of the eleven tracks, but provided backing or co-vocals on several other tracks. Their third album, '' Welcome to my DNA'', was released on 28 March 2011 and supported by a European and North American tour following a kickoff concert in Israel. However, several concert dates were cancelled due to the death of Wilson's father in May 2011.


''Blackfield IV'' (2012–2014)

After touring for ''Welcome to my DNA'' was completed, Wilson confirmed that with Blackfield, like the majority of his other projects, he himself had no particular plans for the future, but the project was not necessarily over either. However, in January 2012, Geffen announced his intentions to release a fourth Blackfield album by May 2012. This prompted Wilson to announce that his role would continue to lessen, with Wilson acting only as a contributor and mixer. Wilson said of the band's future:
...just to clarify news elsewhere of a new Blackfield album coming this year – please note that this time my involvement will be as a contributor rather than a member. I will still be mixing the album, and maybe sing on a couple of Aviv’s songs (there will be other guest singers I understand), but with my complete blessing Blackfield is now under his sole curatorship, a process which really began with ''Welcome to My DNA''"
Wilson later said that it was his own idea for Geffen to take over the project, because he wanted to concentrate on his solo career and Porcupine Tree in 2012 and 2013, while Geffen wanted to do another Blackfield album right away in 2012, and he felt guilty about holding him back. On 29 and 30 January, both Geffen and Wilson were in the studio working on vocals and guitar for the then-untitled fourth album. Wilson stated that he would contribute lead vocals to only one song, but was also contributing "a bunch of guitar parts" and "arranging backing vocals". Despite his lessened role, he said that he was "protective of the Blackfield legacy", and that the next album would "still sound like a quintessential Blackfield album." One of the guest vocalists that Wilson had mentioned before was
Vincent Cavanagh Vincent Cavanagh (born 29 August 1973 in Liverpool) is a British composer, vocalist, and producer, currently releasing music under the moniker The Radicant. His work spans electronic music, contemporary art, dance and immersive technology, wi ...
of the band
Anathema The word anathema has two main meanings. One is to describe that something or someone is being hated or avoided. The other refers to a formal excommunication by a Christian denomination, church. These meanings come from the New Testament, where a ...
. On 14 June 2012, Geffen announced he was in the final mixing stages of the album with Wilson. In a September 2012 interview with Discord Magazine, Wilson reiterated his stance with Blackfield, stating:
I won’t say producing he fourth album I am only helping effen a bit of singing, guitar, mixing whatever it takes but I am not going to tour, it'll be too much, I'll kill myself, would just run myself to the ground. I won't tour Blackfield anymore but I will do anything to keep the name going...I just don't think that writing the kind of style that Blackfield make is where I am at right now.
At the end of November 2012, Geffen said he was aiming for an April 2013 release. Wilson reiterated that he sang and played guitar on several tracks, but "much less than before", that Geffen was able to get "a bunch of great singers to contribute to the record, some of whom are quite well known", and that the album would be the first that Geffen would consent to be mixed for surround sound. On 25 February 2013, Wilson released his third solo album, '' The Raven That Refused to Sing'', of which some copies contained a compilation sampler disc of music made by artists on the record label Kscope; one track was a new Blackfield song, "Pills", taken from the forthcoming album. On 9 June 2013, it was announced that the album would be titled '' Blackfield IV'', and its release date would be 26 August 2013. Blackfield toured in support of the album in February 2014, with Wilson being present for all performances. On 29 January 2014, Wilson announced his intention to quit the band after the European tour, due to his increasingly tight schedule with his solo career and upcoming projects.


Second collaborative era


''Blackfield V'' (2015–2018)

In January 2015, it was announced that Geffen and
Alan Parsons Alan Parsons (born 20 December 1948) is an English audio engineer, songwriter, musician, and record producer. Parsons was the sound engineer on albums including the Beatles' ''Abbey Road'' (1969) and '' Let It Be'' (1970), Pink Floyd's ''The ...
were recording and performing together for a future Blackfield album. Despite Wilson's comments alluding to leaving the band in 2014, he was seen in recording sessions with Geffen and Parsons in June 2015 and June 2016. In August 2016, album details were officially announced, revealing the official album title – '' Blackfield V'', its artwork, and that it would see a return to the collaborative approach between Wilson and Geffen taken for the first two Blackfield records. The album was initially scheduled for release on 18 November 2016, but was later delayed to 10 February 2017. On 8 December 2016 "Family Man", "How Was Your Ride?" and "Sorrys", the second, third and fifth songs from the album, were released. On 28 June 2018, Steven Wilson announced the compilation album "Open Mind - The Best of Blackfield" on his Instagram. The album was released in September 2018.


Warner Records era


''For the Music'' (2019–present)

On 13 May 2019, a picture of Geffen and Wilson working in a recording studio was posted on the band's Facebook page with the caption "Blackfield 6th, recording session, here we go again !" In July 2020, Geffen signed to
Warner Records Warner Records Inc. (known as Warner Bros. Records Inc. until 2019) is an American record label. A subsidiary of Warner Music Group, it is headquartered in Los Angeles, California. It was founded on March 19, 1958, as the recorded music division ...
. After announcing his signing with Warner, on 24 July Blackfield released the first single, “Summer's Gone”, from their upcoming sixth album ''For the Music'', followed by a second track “Under My Skin” on 2 October. ''For the Music'' was released worldwide on 4 December 2020. The album saw Geffen once again taking a leading role, with Wilson only providing lead vocals on three tracks.


Musical style and influences

Geffen has described the band's sounds as
"I don't think it's prog really, it's...very melodic...but it's not prog. I don't allow Steven to play more than two-minute solos. He respects that. Blackfield is everything, it's
metal A metal () is a material that, when polished or fractured, shows a lustrous appearance, and conducts electrical resistivity and conductivity, electricity and thermal conductivity, heat relatively well. These properties are all associated wit ...
, it's prog, it's pop. Blackfield sounds so special because it's a really odd collaboration. I'm not coming from the prog scene, I'm coming from the
indie rock Indie rock is a Music subgenre, subgenre of rock music that originated in the United Kingdom, United States and New Zealand in the early to mid-1980s. Although the term was originally used to describe rock music released through independent reco ...
, pop scene."
Geffen states that while he enjoys mixing different musical sounds, he refuses to incorporate
rap music Rapping (also rhyming, flowing, spitting, emceeing, or MCing) is an artistic form of vocal delivery and emotive expression that incorporates "rhyme, rhythmic speech, and ommonlystreet vernacular". It is usually performed over a backing ...
into the band's sound, stating "I hate
hip hop Hip-hop or hip hop (originally disco rap) is a popular music genre that emerged in the early 1970s from the African-American community of New York City. The style is characterized by its synthesis of a wide range of musical techniques. Hip- ...
...We won't do a shitty pop song." Influences for the band include
Jim Morrison James Douglas Morrison (December 8, 1943 – July 3, 1971) was an American singer, songwriter, and poet who was the lead vocalist and primary lyricist of the rock band the Doors. Due to his charismatic persona, poetic lyrics, distinctive vo ...
,
Radiohead Radiohead are an English rock band formed in Abingdon-on-Thames, Abingdon, Oxfordshire, in 1985. The band members are Thom Yorke (vocals, guitar, piano, keyboards); brothers Jonny Greenwood (guitar, keyboards, other instruments) and Colin Gre ...
,
King Crimson King Crimson were an English progressive rock band formed in London in 1968 by Robert Fripp, Michael Giles, Greg Lake, Ian McDonald (musician), Ian McDonald and Peter Sinfield. Guitarist Fripp remained the only constant member throughout the ...
,
Genesis Genesis may refer to: Religion * Book of Genesis, the first book of the biblical scriptures of both Judaism and Christianity, describing the creation of the Earth and of humankind * Genesis creation narrative, the first several chapters of the Bo ...
, and
Pink Floyd Pink Floyd are an English Rock music, rock band formed in London in 1965. Gaining an early following as one of the first British psychedelic music, psychedelic groups, they were distinguished by their extended compositions, sonic experiments ...
.


Cross-overs

There has been some overlap between Blackfield and Geffen and Wilson's other projects. The songs "Scars," "Cloudy Now," "Glow," "1,000 People," "Epidemic," "End of the World," "Zigota" and "Garden of Sin" had originally been written by Geffen in Hebrew before being translated into English and adapted by Blackfield. On the other hand, the song "Christenings" was originally conceived during Wilson's writing sessions for Porcupine Tree's 2005 release ''
Deadwing ''Deadwing'' is the eighth studio album by British progressive rock band Porcupine Tree, released in Japan on 24 March 2005, in Europe on 28 March, and in the US on 26 April. It quickly became the band's best selling album, although it was l ...
'', but was released on ''Blackfield II'' instead. Additionally, the track "Feel So Low", off of Porcupine Tree's 2000 release ''
Lightbulb Sun ''Lightbulb Sun'' is the sixth studio album by British progressive rock band Porcupine Tree, first released in May 2000, and later reissued in 2008 on CD, DVD-A surround sound, and vinyl. This album, along with their prior album '' Stupid Drea ...
'', was re-recorded by Blackfield and added to the LP version of Blackfield's first album. In this version, Geffen sings the first verse in
Hebrew Hebrew (; ''ʿÎbrit'') is a Northwest Semitic languages, Northwest Semitic language within the Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic language family. A regional dialect of the Canaanite languages, it was natively spoken by the Israelites and ...
. Live, Blackfield has performed Porcupine Tree's "Waiting" and "Feel So Low", as well as covering
Alanis Morissette Alanis Nadine Morissette ( ; born June 1, 1974) is a Canadian and American singer, songwriter, musician, and actress. Known for her emotive mezzo-soprano voice and confessional songwriting, she became a cultural phenomenon during the mid 199 ...
's "
Thank U "Thank U" (listed as "Thank You" on her 2005 greatest hits compilation '' The Collection'') is a song by Canadian-American recording artist and songwriter Alanis Morissette from her fourth studio album, ''Supposed Former Infatuation Junkie'' (19 ...
," which Wilson had previously recorded solo for his own
cover version In popular music, a cover version, cover song, remake, revival, or simply cover is a new performance or recording by a musician other than the original performer or composer of the song. Originally, it referred to a version of a song release ...
compilation album.


Comments from other musicians

Some musicians have cited them as an influence, such as Dial, while others have expressed admiration for their work including
Jordan Rudess Jordan Rudess (born Jordan Charles Rudes; November 4, 1956) is an American keyboardist, composer, and software developer, best known as a member of the progressive metal band Dream Theater and the supergroup Liquid Tension Experiment. Early lif ...
, Arne "Lanvall" Stockhammer of Edenbridge, Nick Barrett of Pendragon, Thrawn of Secrets of the Moon, and Dean Marsh of
Gandalf's Fist Gandalf's Fist is an English band originally from Maryport, Cumbria. The band operates and records their own material from their headquarters currently located in South Norfolk. Their music is influenced by 1970s progressive/psychedelic rock. ...
.


Musicians


Current members

*
Steven Wilson Steven John Wilson (born 3 November 1967) is an English musician. He is the founder, guitarist, lead vocalist, and songwriter of the rock band Porcupine Tree, as well as being a member of several other bands, including Blackfield, Storm Corrosi ...
– vocals, guitar, keyboards *
Aviv Geffen Aviv Geffen (; born 10 May 1973) is an Israeli rock musician, singer-songwriter, music producer and author. In addition to his solo career, Geffen is a founding member of the band Blackfield, he was also the global music director for WeWork. Ge ...
– vocals, keyboards, guitar * Tomer Z – drums, percussion * Eran Mitelman – piano, keyboards * Omri Agmon – guitar * Hadar Green – bass guitar


Former members

*
Chris Maitland Chris Maitland (born 13 May 1964) is an English drummer. Maitland was born in Cambridge, England. After being the drummer for No-Man on their Autumn 1993 tour (and playing on two tracks on their ''Flowermouth'' album), Maitland was asked b ...
– drums, percussion, backing vocals * Daniel Salomon – piano, keyboards, backing vocals * Seffy Efrati – bass guitar


Discography


Studio albums


DVDs


Singles

*2003: "Hello" *2003: "Pain" *2004: "Blackfield" *2004: "Cloudy Now" *2007: "Once" *2007: "Miss U" *2007: "My Gift of Silence" *2011: "Waving" *2013: "Jupiter" *2014: "Sense of Insanity" *2020: "Summer's Gone" *2020: "Under My Skin"


References


External links


Blackfield fan website

Blackfield at Myspace
{{DEFAULTSORT:Blackfield English art rock groups English alternative rock groups English pop rock music groups English progressive rock groups Musical groups established in 2001 Atlantic Records artists