Rating summary

Movie		3.5
Video		4.5
Audio		5.0
Extras		2.0
Overall		4.0

Grace for Drowning Blu-ray Movie Review

Going down for the second time.

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman March 10, 2013

I’m going to seriously date myself here, but I’m old enough not just to remember but to have purchased LPs and (gasp) even 45s. I was there (though not especially cognizant of) the Quadrophonic “revolution”, I experienced the “joy” of bizarre fades, clunks, and reappearances of songs during the fabled 8-Track days, and of course was amazed with the rest of the general populace by the fantastic technology of the cassette. (If you’re not laughing yet, you probably won’t ever be.) I well remember when a good friend of mine told me about this “newfangled” thing called the compact disc probably in the mid- to late eighties, and I was nonplussed. I had already seen (and heard) a variety of supposed “upgrades”, and I had already started buying digitally recorded LPs, so I just wasn’t that interested. Until I heard one. Now I know there are a lot of people who love the sound of a needle hitting vinyl (and I still have literally hundreds of LPs in my collection as well as a high end turntable and sound system), but for me anyway, hearing pure music without the pops, scratches and hiss of the typical LP was a minor revelation. This trip down memory lane isn’t mere nostalgia: it’s a salient example of what Blu-ray audio is still going through years after the introduction of the high definition era. There are still copious amounts of people asking in unison, “Why?” Why invest in Blu-ray audio discs? What difference could lossless audio and surround mixes possibly make for listening to music? The second half of that equation is obviously rather well linked to the short lived Quadrophonic era, but the fact is very few albums were actually recorded with four channel sound specifically in mind (or ear). As many of you probably know, a lot of Quadrophonic releases were simply repurposed stereo albums, kind of like the current craze of “tarting up” stereo or even mono audio in films to 5.1 surround mixes. That of course is a gross generalization, but it may be one of the reasons that Quadrophonic sound never really took off. The Blu-ray audio era is a different beast altogether. We have a whole generation of artists who have been raised in the surround sound era and who have a perhaps intuitive understanding of how to deal with multi-channel music making. And there’s probably no more artful practitioner of this approach than Steven Wilson.

It’s kind of interesting to work backwards through Steven Wilson’s solo discography. I had just spent several glorious hours listening (and relistening) to the often elegant and incredibly varied The Raven That Refused to Sing before I settled down to do the same with Grace for Drowning, an album which predated The Raven That Refused to Sing by a couple of years (more or less). My initial reaction is that Grace for Drowning may not be as immediately accessible as The Raven That Refused to Sing is, and it’s also undeniably darker, filled with lots of minor key explorations and with lyrics that seem to hint at loss if not outright mortality.

Grace for Drowning is a another multi-disciplinary journey for Wilson, who seems adept in just about any genre he puts his mind (and/or composing talents) to. There are instrumentals, vocals, combos, and too many styles to list. The album is broken into two larger sequences, and this outing has a somewhat harder, rockier edge than The Raven That Refused to Sing. Wilson is a master at utilizing surround sound technology, and the songs play like “mental soundtracks” at times, with discrete channelization effects and clear separation of instruments.

This particular disc is almost like the aural equivalent of a Chinese nesting doll. If you select “Play Album” from the Main Menu, the album does indeed play to a mostly black screen (see the video comments below). You might think therefore that this disc is less interesting (visually at least) than The Raven That Refused to Sing. But simply start exploring the other menu options and that initial impression will vanish in the sonic wind. Choosing each individual song brings up a wealth of hidden content, including five music videos (some of which are extremely odd), lots of slideshows and even some alternate demo versions of songs. Also, just linger on the Main Menu for a while for some other little surprises.

Wilson’s playlist (with videos and alternate demo versions indicated in parentheses) are listed below. Many but not all of the songs also have slideshows you can watch as you listen.

• 1. Grace for Drowning


• 2. Sectarian

  (Demo Audio Mix)

• 3. Deform to Form a Star

  (Demo Audio Mix)

• 4. No Part of Me

  (Demo Audio Mix)

• 5. Postcard


• 6. Raider Prelude


• 7. Remainder the Black Dog

  (Demo Audio Mix)
  (Video 9:29). This peculiar piece is a bizarre amalgamation of images (many sepia toned) which seem to hint at some kind of ritual in the woods. Death images are rather prevalent.

• 8. Belle de Jour

  (Video 2:59). This is another rather weird little sepia toned video with Wilson wandering around through a cemetery and then on a beach where he gets handed a photo of himself by an unseen entity (Death?).

• 9. Index

  (Video 4:49). This video has Wilson surrounded by a bunch of store mannequins as he sings in a sinister whisper about being a collector.

• 10. Track One

  (Video 4:10). Here we find Wilson playing guitar outside in the night (cold enough that you can see his breath as he sings), with a bizarre occurrence which takes place in the background (I won’t spoil it for you).

• 11. Raider II

  (Demo Audio Mix)

• 12. Like Dust I Have Cleared From My Eye

  (Demo Audio Mix)
  (Video 8:02). This is a relatively straightforward video, with more sepia toned imagery of Wilson outside seemingly staring into the sun.

Grace for Drowning Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Grace for Drowning has much less of a video component than did The Raven That Refused to Sing, though there are both photos and some music videos that are delivered via AVC encodes in 1080p and 1.78:1 (some of the photos are in different aspect ratios). Unlike The Raven That Refused to Sing, choosing "Play Album" takes you to a mostly completely black/blank screen, with only the name of the tune scrawled in white. To access the video content, you need to go into the individual song selections and then to the submenus attached to each of those songs to make the appropriate choice of whether or not you want to watch the video aspect. It's kind of an odd authoring choice, but as mentioned above, it makes exploring this disc kind of fun.

Grace for Drowning Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Grace for Drowning is another foray into reference quality Blu-ray audio with two 96/24 audio options, DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 and LPCM 2.0. Those of you with the ability to listen to this album in surround sound are encouraged (even urged) to do so, for Wilson is one smart cookie when it comes to creating a sumptuous soundfield. Wilson's approach isn't gimmicky, but it also wisely utilizes the separation and discrete channelization effects that are inherent in this medium. Just to give one of many examples, in several tunes on this album, drumming isn't spatially located consistently in one place or the other, even in any given riff. It's as if Wilson is looking at each individual element—even individual beats or notes—and deciding where in the overall architecture of the piece he wants them to appear. This creates a swirling aural kaleidoscope of effects that firmly immerses the listener in the music, virtually erasing any perceived "distance" between the musicians and the audience. Fidelity is simply outstanding, with perfect reproduction through all frequency ranges. If you're a refugee from too many format wars to count and wonder why anyone would bother with Blu- ray audio, you really should check out at least one of Wilson's pieces to get an idea of what is possible.

Grace for Drowning Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

Two bonus songs are included as supplements, both of which offer only LPCM 2.0 audio:

• Home in Negative (3:03)


• Fluid Tap (5:45)

Grace for Drowning Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Grace for Drowning didn't reach out and touch me viscerally with quite the same strength that The Raven That Refused to Sing did, but I also found myself liking the album more and more the more I listened to it, which is always a good sign. This is another pretty stunning journey through too many genres to list, and it's obvious that not only is Wilson a major composing and arranging talent, he also is at the forefront of crafting smart, even brilliant, surround soundscapes. Blu-ray audio releases may frankly still be on an uphill slog, but Wilson's releases are among the best arguments for this still nascent new era. Recommended.