THE PINEAPPLE THIEF, FAR AND WIDE

I discovered The Pineapple Thief through Dissolution in 2018, nearly twenty years after Bruce Soord first formed the band. It remains my favorite of their albums, although their latest, Far and Wide, the band's 16th album, is a strong contender to supplant it.

Since joining the band in 2016, drummer Gavin Harrison's collaboration with Soord has become an increasingly important part of the band’s music. The two worked particularly closely on 2024’s It Leads To This, challenging one another during the writing process and shaping the songs together rather than Harrison simply adding drums to Soord’s finished compositions. This approach continues on Far and Wide, although this time the entire band was thinking more about what four musicians could play together, stripping away unnecessary guitar parts and vocal harmonies and resisting the temptation to keep adding simply because the studio allowed them to. What has resulted from this approach are nine incredibly well conceived and structured songs.

Nothing on Far and Wide feels truncated or hurried. The slow burner “Through the Noise” is a great example. The song takes its time, allowing its opening minutes to unfold patiently rather than rushing toward what comes next. And there is more that comes next.

And then there is Gavin Harrison. I’ve written before about the Porcupine Tree drummer and what an exceptional musician he is, but his playing on Far and Wide may be the pinnacle. His percussion is so precise and so carefully considered that I sometimes find myself listening specifically for what he is doing. And what he isn't doing. There are no unnecessary fills or moments of grandeur. Every decision he makes, and everything he plays, serves the song.

There is also a more personal side to Soord's writing this time. His father died in 2025, and that loss found its way into an album already concerned with mortality, family, and the uncertainty of the world around us. Those concerns aren't entirely new for Soord, particularly after It Leads To This, but they carry a different significance when some of what he is writing about hits so close to home.

After twenty-five years, The Pineapple Thief have never sounded better. Far and Wide is a striking, atmospheric, and richly textured album that I got completely lost in. It's not just an outstanding album, but one of their best to date.