Six-time Grammy Award-nominated musician, songwriter and producer Steven Wilson has revealed details of his upcoming ninth studio album. Titled “Requiem For A Village”, the album will be released through Fiction Records on Friday, November 6.
The new record will be available in a wide range of formats, including digital, CD, Blu-ray, 140g double 12″ black vinyl, 2x Oxblood 12″ vinyl, and a deluxe box set containing two CDs and a Blu-ray, housed in a 96-page hardback book box.
While Steven Wilson’s acclaimed eighth album, 2025’s “The Overview”, explored the vast distances, depths and desolation of deep space, his upcoming ninth album, “Requiem For A Village”, turns its gaze toward a tiny, forgotten corner somewhere in the British Isles. It is a hauntological world completely detached from modern life, where the paintings of Stanley Spencer fill the local art gallery, the ghost stories of M.R. James and Algernon Blackwood line the shelves of the public library, and the Children Of The Stones perform in the village square.
Rejecting A.I. and modern corrective studio technology, Wilson embraced a deliberately unconventional recording process, creating music that welcomes both the macabre and the unexpected possibilities of imperfection. Instead, he relied on organic instrumentation, whether pristine or flawed, allowing mistakes and accidents to become part of the creative process and discovering where they might ultimately lead.
Intimate, ambitious, richly imaginative and deliberately eccentric, “Requiem For A Village” features a captivating narration written by legendary XTC frontman Andy Partridge and performed by award-winning actor David Tennant, known for his roles in “Doctor Who”, “Broadchurch” and “Rivals”. Wilson is joined by longtime collaborator and multi-instrumentalist Randy McStine, drummer Russell Holzman and vocalist Katherine Priddy.
The album is previewed with the release of its powerful title track, “Requiem For A Village”. Built around pounding drums, a driving bassline and abrasive guitars, the song gradually develops into something resembling the soundtrack to an approaching apocalypse. It is now available across all major DSPs and streaming platforms.
An official live performance video also premieres today on YouTube, marking the first installment of the Village Sessions series, recorded and filmed with Randy McStine and Russell Holzman. Earlier this week, an exclusive excerpt from the album’s narration was unveiled, alongside a new online platform designed to resemble the traditional parish council website of a fictional British village, featuring song and lyric references, hidden Easter eggs and other details for fans to discover.
“I wanted to get back to a kind of music where you can hear the metaphorical thumbprints,” says Steven Wilson. “Doubling down on the human gestures and flaws in the music, stuff that can’t be created using software. For example using only analogue synths with all their unpredictability, or not having instruments perfectly in tune. But it also lead to me picking up the violin, the oboe, or trying my hand on the drums — playing things I don’t really know how to play but getting something out of them that inspired me in ways I didn’t expect. Approaching the music with a sense of innocence and seeing where it took me. And where it took me was to the village.”
“Requiem For A Village” track listing:
01. Swirl In A Lark’s Eye
02. Requiem For A Village
03. The Same River Twice
04. Now Departing
05. Hiraeth
06. On Chapel Slope
07. Murmuration
08. Curcus Fingerprint
09. A Basket Of Bees
10. Great Green Map
11. Wheel
12. The Old God Is Buried
