One day in 1987, Porcupine Tree founder Steven Wilson met singer-songwriter Tim Bowness. Whether or not the planets were aligned that day, you can determine for yourself, but their subsequent collaborations as No-Man would result in some extraordinary and innovative music – as you can find out on their new box set Housekeeping: The OLI Years 1990-1994.

Words: Rob Hughes

No-Man in 1990: aband looking for land.

Images: No-Man Archives

“It’s a bit like No-Man transformed the sound of electro and rave, but from outside the club... There was a sense of being detached from the culture itself. That’s what made us outsiders.”

Tim Bowness

1987 was a big year for Steven Wilson. Still in his teens, he devised Porcupine Tree as a progpsych conceit, complete with a fabulously fictional back story. He also happened to meet singersongwriter Tim Bowness, with whom he began playing as No Man Is An Island (Except For The Isle Of Man). While Porcupine Tree would gradually evolve into a whole other creative entity, the Bowness project was a more immediate priority.

The chemistry was instant. “At our very first recording session, we did three completely different kinds of song,” Wilson recalls. “We recorded Faith’s Last Doubt, which is this very sort of pretentious prog rock epic. Then there was this piece of industrial funk, Screaming Head Eternal, and a gothic piano ballad called Beaten By Love. And all in the space of about three hours – bang, bang, bang. There was something magical straight away.”

“What was great about working with Steven is that we were free from any shackles,” Bowness adds. “When I first met him, we’d discuss avant-garde music, classical, prog rock, Swans, David Bowie, all of these things. And we’d draw from spiritual jazz or soul music. Very early on we started using looped beats and looped bass, but we’d also draw samples from Stockhausen and Van der Graaf Generator. Basically, we just wanted to express ourselves.”