Steven Wilson has streamed brand new song “Anyone But Me”, which you can listen to below.
“Anyone But Me” was recorded during sessions for Wilson’s Top 5 album The Future Bites, but didn’t make the final cut of the album. A demo of “Anyone But Me” was actually included on the cassette – sorry, obsolete media – in the limited edition deluxe box set of The Future Bites, but this is the first time the full studio cut has been made available.
“This song was a casualty of COVID-19,” Wilson explains. “It was originally the closing song on The Future Bites, the album was even mastered and cut with it in place, but the delay in releasing the album gave me the chance to re-evaluate and I decided to replace it with the more laid back and atmospheric Count Of Unease.
“I still love this song though. Lyrically it’s about how it’s now possible to present to the world a version of yourself via social media that may have no bearing on reality – photos of yourself in places you’ve never been, hanging out with friends you’ve never met. It’s becoming more important to create the illusion of a desirable life on social media than it is to actually live it.”
In March, Wilson announced that he had been forced to cancel his ‘The Future Bites’ tour, already rescheduled for this coming September. Citing continued COVID-related disruption in Europe, Wilson states that he will now concentrate on upcoming music projects, working on two albums that are planned for 2022 and 2023 respectively.
In a statement, Wilson said: “Sadly for the second time I am forced to postpone my ‘Future Bites’ tour – the rescheduled dates were due to begin in September. While recent developments made me at least optimistic that the UK shows might have been able to go ahead (though no guarantee), the same is not true of much of the rest of Europe.
Wilson is currently finishing writing his first book, due for publication by Little Brown later this year and working on two new albums for release in 2022 and 2023.