I.E.M. – IEM Have Come For Your Children

Label: PT Download Store
Catalog No.: PTDWNLD-006
Musicians: Steven Wilson; Geoff Leigh; Colin Edwin; Mark Simnett; Dave Andersson
Recorded: 1999-2001


Track List:
1. "Untitled" – 35:37
2. "Untitled" – 7:54
3. "Untitled" – 7:11
4. "Untitled" – 12:03
5. "Untitled" – 5:29
6. "Piece For Hammered Dulcimer And Mellotron Choir" - 4:26


About the album:
A sort-of companion piece to Arcadia Son, Incredible Expanding Mindfuck Have Come for Your Children consists of six untitled compositions deriving from the 1999 sessions that resulted in the other album, further treated and reworked two years later in preparation for release. The longest of the tracks – a full 35-minute monster – is in fact a heavily reworked version of the song "Arcadia Son" itself, extending its tendencies toward dub echo and seriously stoned pacing toward insane levels. The flute overdubs and echoes alone, not to mention the seemingly endless guitar solo that rises up and down throughout just about the entire song, make for a truly gone experience all around. Then again, only the most hardcore Steven Wilson fan would want this album, which was the point – it was only issued in two limited runs, a sure sign Wilson knew who exactly this would appeal to most. The other tracks on IEM Have Come feel like further extensions or remixes of the main track, for the most part – similar rhythms, further tweaked and twisted in the mix, similar haunting drones and moans swathed in heavy amounts of echo, and so forth. Further differences appear in the relative prioritizes of sax or guitar solos or synth arrangements, but at the heart of nearly every track, however buried, is still that same gently loping beat. The end of the album provides a bit more variety – the next to last track consists of heavily distorted drum hits for the most part, possibly the same as the ones used on the other cuts but without any of the subtlety there, mixed with horn and guitar performances. The final cut, meanwhile, combines hammered dulcimer and mellotron-produced choirs for a minimal, quietly captivating conclusion to this effort. ~Ned Raggett (AMG)

About the Artists:
Incredible Expanding Mindfuck, also known as IEM, is a musical project by Steven Wilson (the leader of British rock band Porcupine Tree). Its work is mainly influenced by Krautrock and experimental music from the 1960s and 1970s.


I.E.M. is arguably Steven Wilson's most overlooked project and is certainly the most mysterious. It is seldom discussed in any depth by Wilson in interviews and the album packaging provides very little information. The name "Incredible Expanding Mindfuck" is an in-joke referring to early Porcupine Tree promotional material (in which Porcupine Tree was given an entirely fictional 1970s history and in which the Incredible Expanding Mindfuck was mentioned as a related project).

Wilson's work with I.E.M is in part a continuation of the experimental psychedelic sound which he initially mastered with Porcupine Tree before steering the band towards a more mainstream rock direction with the Stupid Dream album. He has also cited "the cosmic jazz of artists like Sun Ra" as an influence on the music.

I.E.M's work is more experimental in nature than that of Porcupine Tree, and is almost entirely instrumental. Almost all instruments on I.E.M recordings are played by Wilson (although other contributors have included former Bark Psychosis drummer Mark Simnett).

The first I.E.M release was a self-titled album on Porcupine Tree's original record label Delerium Records in 1996. It was followed by a limited-edition single called An Escalator to Christmas. Further releases have occasionally followed, with little fanfare or direct promotion.

I.E.M.'s most recent release of entirely new music was in 2001 (although 2005's compilation album I.E.M. 1996-1999 included some previously released material). The project has increasingly taken a back seat to Wilson's other project, most notably to Porcupine Tree, Blackfield and Bass Communion, but also to No-Man and to Wilson's recent solo release Insurgentes (which itself contains developments of some of the ideas Wilson has previously explored with I.E.M.).