Routine

Running 8:58, this song tells the heart-rending story of a woman who has lost her family. With the house now empty, she finds solace in the routine chores that keep her occupied - she even cooks meals for the people who are no longer there. In our interview with Steven Wilson, he explained: "We don't all suffer that kind of loss in our lives, but I think we all have to an extent where we use routine - the daily grind, the Groundhog Day thing, if you'd like - to sometimes ignore the bigger questions. 'What am I doing in my life? Am I happy? Am I happy at my job? Am I happy in my relationship? Is my life going where I want it to go?'" The Porcupine Tree frontman added: "I'm no exception to that, so I have times where I also question, and I need to force myself to question those things, rather than just going through the everyday motions. So I suspect the idea came from a personal perspective. But at some point, it developed into this story of this very tragic figure - this housewife using her routine to ignore something that was almost too difficult for her to confront and to bear."

The Israeli singer Ninet Tayeb did the female vocals on this one.

The video was directed by Jess Cope and made using stop-action animation. In the visual, we learn that the woman lost her husband and two sons in a school shooting. Wilson played the video on his Hand. Cannot. Erase. tour before releasing it online. Cope also did videos for Wilson's songs "Drive Home" and "The Raven that Refused to Sing."