Futile is a promotional EP

Extended play

An EP is a musical recording which contains more music than a single, but is too short to qualify as a full album or LP. The term EP originally referred only to specific types of vinyl records other than 78 rpm standard play records and LP records, but it is now applied to mid-length Compact...

 by British progressive rock

Progressive rock

Progressive rock is a subgenre of rock music that developed in the late 1960s and early 1970s as part of a "mostly British attempt to elevate rock music to new levels of artistic credibility." John Covach, in Contemporary Music Review, says that many thought it would not just "succeed the pop of...

 band Porcupine Tree

Porcupine Tree

Porcupine Tree is a progressive rock band formed by Steven Wilson in 1987 in Hemel Hempstead, Hertfordshire, England. Their music is difficult to categorise, being associated with both psychedelic rock and progressive rock, yet having been influenced by trance, krautrock and ambient due to Steven...

, released in July 2003 through Lava Records

Lava Records

Lava Records is an American based record label, owned by Universal Music Group, and operated through Universal Republic Records.-Company history:...

. It was first released during Porcupine Tree's North American tour with Opeth, of July and August 2003.

Additionally, the album was later released digitally as well, with an alternate track listing. This version is a digital EP of tracks recorded during the In Absentia era.

Song background

"Strip the Soul (edit)" is a shortened version of the song of the same name from In Absentia. The short piece "Collapse" was originally intended to open the In Absentia album. "Orchidia" had been previously released in the 7" vinyl edition of the Four Chords That Made a Million

Four Chords That Made a Million

"Four Chords That Made a Million" is a single by British progressive rock band Porcupine Tree, released in April 2000, a month before the release of the album Lightbulb Sun, in order to promote it...

single as a demo, this is instead a 2003 version with proper mastering and mixing. "Futile" was previously available on the DVD-A version of In Absentia. "Drown With Me" was a bonus track of the European edition of the album.

"Interview with Steven Wilson" is an interview done with Joe Del Tufo in May 2003. "Hatesong (live)" was recorded in Philadelphia on July 26, 2002. "Blackest Eyes (live)" was performed live on XM Radio.

"Death Whispered A Lullaby" isn't a Porcupine Tree song, but rather, it was taken from Opeth

Opeth

Opeth is a Swedish heavy metal band from Stockholm, formed in 1990. Though the group has been through several personnel changes, singer, guitarist, and songwriter Mikael Åkerfeldt has remained Opeth's driving force throughout the years...

's Damnation

Damnation (album)

-Notes:# The vocal melody in the chorus of "To Rid the Disease" is borrowed from a track recorded by Mikael Åkerfeldt's sideproject Sörskogen, "Mordet i Grottan".-Opeth:* Mikael Åkerfeldt – vocals, guitar; producing and engineering...

album. It was co-written and produced by Steven Wilson.

Original version

Grand piano, Mellotron

Mellotron

The Mellotron is an electro-mechanical, polyphonic tape replay keyboard originally developed and built in Birmingham, England in the early 1960s. It superseded the Chamberlin Music Master, which was the world's first sample-playback keyboard intended for music...

, Fender Rhodes and backing vocals in "Death Whispered A Lullaby" were performed by Steven Wilson.

Download version

1. "Collapse" – 1:39
2. "Drown with Me" – 5:22
3. "Orchidia" – 3:19
4. "Futile" – 6:04
5. "Hatesong" (live) – 8:32
6. "Chloroform" – 7:15

External links

• Porcupine Tree
• Burning Shed