 |
| A Brian Eno of another Era |
So I moved a few weeks back; the wife and I bought our first house, pretty crazy... I was sorting through some neglected CDs and came across a wonderful album by Brian Eno, an album that, from my experience, seems to be overlooked & underrated. Pitchfork’s review of the release gave it a lukewarm 6.1 rating, calling it “a decent album at best.” Brian Eno did something unexpected in 2005 with his album, Another Day on Earth (Hannibal Records); he released an ambient, vocal-centered pop record, which caught some critics off-guard I guess. To quote pitchfork: “In my mind Brian Eno's ambient music is completely separate from his vocal work-- so much so that I can in hazier moments forget that one man was responsible for both....” In the critic’s mind, Eno’s ambient experiments do not go with his other modes of music-making, especially any vocal-centered songs, but I have to adamantly disagree with this notion. I think the critic needs to open his mind a little bit and give this record another spin.
That was the opening track of the album, entitled “This,” and it’s a really great album opener. Every critic agrees that the opening track is the album’s strongest moment, and they’re probably right about that; it definitely sold me... I remember when I bought the CD on a whim; I was in school at the time and stopped in the now-out-of-business Tower Records store near NYU (after attending a class I think). I listened to the first track, “This,” at the sample station and was surprisedly hooked. The thing is I’ve often been a little impatient with the ambient side of the Eno discography. I do like his experimental release, Thursday Afternoon (1985 Polydor Records), however, and Another Day on Earth explores soundscapes of a similar nature, but in a more contained, pop-oriented format. What I like about this release is exactly what makes it difficult to categorize in the terms mentioned above. I love how the organic vocals and instrumentation blend so seamlessly with synthesized, computer-generated sounds, and Leo Abraham’s guitar work in the above song is simply perfect (go to about 1min 48sec to see for yourself...).
The entire album was recorded on Brian Eno’s mac over a 4 year period, and the artist claims that the whole record was built around the 2nd song, “And Then So Clear”:
It’s a beautiful, minimalist song. The heavy, auto-tuned processing of Eno’s vocals reminds me of the methods of some recent, popular artists like Bon Iver and James Blake. Again, Eno employs vocals seamlessly as an an atmospheric instrument that adds even more layers to his deep, ambient compositions. The song, “Bottomliners,” demonstrates similar vocal processing:
The title track of what seems to be a kind of concept album (as stated before, the songs were all written in relation to one original composition) echoes the rhythm and structure of the opening track “This” quite nicely. It rivals “This” as the other most “straightforward” pop song on the album; here’s “Just Another Day”:
In terms of favorite song, I tend to oscillate between the already posted “This” and the track, “How Many Worlds.” This song deserves to be listened to on some good, sound-reducing headphones at a fairly loud volume; it’s absolutely beautiful. Here’s the song, accompanied by some great animation:
These are some of the highlights of what is an altogether underrated album of pure sonic excellence. This is ambient Eno at his best and most approachable. Definitely check out the entire album.
P.S. Brian Eno has recently worked with the above-mentioned guitarist, Leo Abrahams, on the experimental album, Small Craft on a Milk Sea (2010 Warp Records), and he has just released a new collaborative album, Drums between the Bells (2011 Warp Records), with poet, Rick Holland. Both albums are much more experimental than Another Day on Earth. Unlike these recent releases, Another Day is an album for everyone, so I'm surprised it hasn't had more success. I can't recommend this one enough.
No comments:
Post a Comment