Lasse Hoile

“I’ve always wanted to do a movie” says Steven Wilson, Porcupine Tree musician and Atmos innovator

Steven Wilson is the go-to guy for Dolby Atmos audio. Having remixed a string of classic albums, from the likes of King Crimson, Hawkwind and Roxy Music, as well as new releases for Tears for Fears, Def Leppard and his own band, Porcupine Tree, he’s at the forefront of the spatial audio revolution.

But other ambitions remain. Talking exclusively to Audio Media International, the award winning musician, producer and engineer says he hankers to compose for the silver screen.

“Top of my list of unfulfilled ambitions is to score a movie,” says Wilson. “I’ve never been invited to do that. I’ve scored a game, which was a lot of fun a few years ago. It was called Last day of June. It was based on one of my songs, Drive Home, and it was a beautiful game.

Wilson admits that while he’s not a gamer, he greatly enjoyed the process. “I wasn’t sure what to expect, but it’s really beautiful. The soundtrack came out on vinyl a few months ago.”

“One word that gets thrown at my music a lot is ‘cinematic’, so it almost seems like a no brainer that I should have done more in the world of cinema. When I started out most of my income was coming from TV commercials. I love the idea of music and image working together. In many ways that’s the ultimate art form. It’s incredible.”

Just don’t expect a blockbuster anytime soon. “My life is pretty full as it is, but I like to think that one maybe I’ll retire from touring, and do a movie.”

As for the immediate future, Wilson is heading back out on the road.

“Porcupine Tree is going on tour for the first time in 12 years, and probably for the last time as well. We’re going to do about two months of shows in America and in Europe, to present the new album, Closure / Continuation. Then I’ll be releasing my new solo project, which is almost finished. It’s something which Dolby Atmos is going to be a very big part of. It’s probably the first time I’ve actually created an album with Atmos in mind, thinking in terms of what I could do with Atmos rather than it being something I think about in retrospect.”

Wilson is excited for its release. “I think it’s the best thing I’ve ever done. It’s certainly the most creative from a sonic point of view – a very conceptual 54 minute epic”.