Steven Wilson and Mariusz Duda have marked the tenth anniversary of the release of their heartfelt collaboration The Old Peace, by reissuing a remixed and remastered version of the song, which is now made available digitally for the first time on major streaming platforms.
The Old Peace was originally recorded by the pair in 2014, after Alec Wildey, a young fan of both Wilson and Riverside, asked if they'd put one of his poems to music following a tragic cancer diagnosis on Christmas Eve 2013. Both musicians agreed, with Duda creating the music, and he and Wilson arranged and produced the song together, while Wilson has remixed and remastered the new version.
"Alec Wildey was a young fan who for several years had been passionate about our music, actively helping out with promotion as a leading member of the Porcupine Tree and Steven Wilson street teams from the tender age of 17 and setting up a street team for Mariusz in 2010," Wilson explains.
"He was a devoted and enthusiastic music listener and movie watcher, as well as a self-published poet, with a very bright future. At the end of July when he understood he had only a short time left, he emailed me to ask if it was possible that his two favourite musicians could set one of his poems to music, a long-held dream of his. I immediately agreed but told him I would make a deal with him – I would make it happen if he could hang on long enough to hear it. We even discussed the possibility of him playing drums on the song himself.
"Unfortunately, he passed away only a few weeks later on 25th August at the age of just 26, and so the idea to record the song became about honouring Alec’s memory and all too short life, as well as a form of tribute to him and his family. Alec’s poem The Old Peace has been beautifully set to music by Mariusz and sung and performed by both of us."
The original release raised over $11,800, supporting both the Wilmot Cancer Institute in New York and Macmillan Cancer Centre in the UK.
