The Night Siren

Much of the album was recorded within one year; Hackett explained that his writing comes from a three-person team of himself, his wife Jo, and his keyboardist and co-producer Roger King, with Hackett discussing and exchanging initial music and lyric ideas with the other two. When an idea is settled upon, music would be sent to the other performers or Hackett would travel to them and have their parts recorded on location. Hackett did not intend to incorporate such elements of middle eastern and world music at first, but his interest in such music had started in the 1960s and realised the album began to take such a direction when the songs were being developed further. Parts of the album was recorded in Sardinia and Hungary, and involved a session of musicians from Iceland, Azerbaijan, Israel and Palestine working side by side, "proving that it is possible for people not to just coexist in peace but also do something extraordinary artistically together". == Music ==

Hackett had been working on his singing "since 1981" and marks his vocals on The Night Siren as the first time he "actually felt like a vocalist" and cited the style of American singer Tim Rose as an influence. Some sections on the album were longer than what appeared in the final version, leaving Hackett to edit them down as he noticed a "sense of let's get to the point" and had been prone to develop long sections or song introductions in the past. He intended to make a more accessible album, and after listening back to it, enjoyed making it. Hackett's brother John Hackett plays the flute on some tracks. For the song West to East, Steve Hackett reached out to Kobi Farhi of Israeli oriental metal band Orphaned Land and asked him to provide vocals, along with Mira Awad, an Arab-Israeli who represented Israel on Eurovision 2009 with Noa, as a message of peace. In 2013, Awad guest performed on Orphaned Land's album All Is One, during which she and Farhi sang together. According to Farhi, Hackett offered to either pay him for the performance, or instead to play a guitar solo on their next album, and Farhi chose the latter. Hackett performs a guitar solo on the song Chains Fall to Gravity on Unsung Prophets and Dead Messiahs. == Release ==

The album was released on 24 March 2017 through Inside Out Music, available on CD, a double vinyl set with a CD, a digital download, and a special edition CD and Blu-ray, featuring a 5.1 surround sound mix and a "making of" documentary. Hackett is supporting the album with his Genesis Revisited with Classic Hackett Tour through 2017, to commemorate the album and the fortieth anniversary of Wind & Wuthering (1976), the last Genesis studio album recorded with Hackett in the band. == Track listing ==

• Steve Hackett – electric and acoustic guitars, oud, charango, sitar guitar, harmonica, vocals • Kobi Farhi – vocals on "West to East" • Mīrā ‘Awaḍ – vocals on "West to East" • Nick D'Virgilio – drums on "Martian Sea" • Malik Mansurov – tar on "Behind the Smoke" • Gunnlaugur Briem (credited as "Gulli Briem") – drums, cajon, percussion • Roger King – keyboards, programming (except on "The Gift") • Benedict Fenner – keyboards, programming on "The Gift" • Leslie-Miriam Bennett – keyboards on "The Gift" • Nad Sylvan – vocals on "Inca Terra" • Jo Hackett – vocals on "West to East" • Gary O'Toole – drums on "Fifty Miles from the North Pole", "El Niño" and "West to East" • Rob Townsend – baritone saxophone, soprano saxophone, flute, flageolet, quena, duduk, bass clarinet • Amanda Lehmann – vocals • Christine Townsend – violin, viola • Dick Driver – double bass • Troy Donockley – uilleann pipes on "In Another Life" • John Hackett – flute on "Martian Sea" and "West to East" • Ferenc Kovács – trumpet on "Fifty Miles from the North Pole" • Sara Kovács – didgeridoo on "Fifty Miles from the North Pole" ==Charts==