"The Incident" is the tenth studio album by British progressive rock band Porcupine Tree, released as a double album on September 14, 2009, by Roadrunner Records. The album was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Surround Sound Album and reached the Top 25 on both the US and UK album charts. It was the final release to feature Colin Edwin on bass and marked the band's last album before an extended hiatus that lasted until 2021.
The band began recording *The Incident* in February 2009, as confirmed by a post on their official website. They spent two weeks in the English countryside working on new tracks, with recording of these pieces and a new 35-minute song cycle by Steven Wilson set to start in February. By March and April, Wilson noted that the 35-minute song had evolved into a 55-minute piece occupying the entire first disc.
On June 12, 2009, details of *The Incident* were revealed on the Porcupine Tree website. The album was initially set for release on September 22 as a double CD, with the title track occupying the first disc. This 55-minute song cycle was described as a slightly surreal exploration of beginnings and endings. The release date was later moved to September 15. The album, self-produced by the band, also included four standalone compositions—"Flicker," "Bonnie the Cat," "Black Dahlia," and "Remember Me Lover"—featured on a separate disc to highlight their independence from the song cycle.
On July 13, a preview of the album was posted on Roadrunner and the band's MySpace pages. The track "Time Flies," which Wilson described as sentimental and the centerpiece of the album, was accompanied by a music video directed by Lasse Hoile.
A DVD-A edition of the album was released on the Transmission Label as Transmission 11.1 through Burning Shed. On April 12, 2010, an acoustic version of "I Drive the Hearse" was made available on the Roadrunner website. On July 9, 2010, a music video for "Bonnie the Cat" was released.
The chord progression in several songs on the album, particularly in "The Blind House" and "The Séance," is reused from the No-Man song "The Break-Up For Real" from the 2003 album Together We're Stranger.
