NEWS UPDATE: 28TH JULY 2022
Thanks to Dario, Rory, Martina, Richard, and EnoWeb's own newsbot Tom Boon in no particular order for these news items.
On 14th October the long drought will break, as Brian Eno will release a new solo album, FOREVERANDEVERNOMORE. There are 10 tracks, mainly songs, and it will be available on vinyl, CD and digital formats including Dolby Atmos.
Tracklist:
Who Gives a Thought
We Let It In
Icarus or Blériot
Garden of Stars
Inclusion
There Were Bells
Sherry
I’m Hardly Me
These Small Noises
Making Gardens Out of Silence
"There Were Bells" is whatever they call a single these days and can be heard here (just the music), and here as a video of a live performance at the Eno brothers' concert in Athens last year, where in 45°C-degree heat with ash from nearby wildfires drifting down, Brian commented, "I thought, here we are at the birthplace of Western civilisation, probably witnessing the end of it.” The current climate emergency is a theme explored throughout the album, as Eno elaborated:
“Like everybody else – except, apparently, most of the governments of the world – I’ve been thinking about our narrowing, precarious future, and this music grew out of those thoughts. Perhaps it’s more accurate to say I’ve been feeling about it…and the music grew out of the feelings. Those of us who share those feelings are aware that the world is changing at a super-rapid rate, and that large parts of it are disappearing forever…hence the album title.
“These aren’t propaganda songs to tell you what to believe and how to act. Instead they’re my own exploration of my own feelings. The hope is that they will invite you, the listener, to share those experiences and explorations.
“It took me a long time to embrace the idea that we artists are actually feelings-merchants. Feelings are subjective. Science avoids them because they’re hard to quantify and compare. But ‘feelings’ are the beginnings of thoughts, and the long term attendants of them too. Feelings are the whole body reacting, often before the conscious brain has got into gear, and often with a wide lens that encompasses more than the brain is consciously aware of.
“Art is where we start to become acquainted with those feelings, where we notice them and learn from them – learn what we like and don’t like – and from there they start to turn into actionable thoughts. Children learn through play; adults play through Art. Art gives you the space to ‘have’ feelings, but it comes with an off-switch: you can shut the book or leave the gallery. Art is a safe place to experience feelings – joyous ones and difficult ones. Sometimes those feelings are about things we long for, sometimes they’re about things we might want to avoid.
“I’m more and more convinced that our only hope of saving our planet is if we begin to have different feelings about it: perhaps if we became re-enchanted by the amazing improbability of life; perhaps if we suffered regret and even shame at what we’ve already lost; perhaps if we felt exhilarated by the challenges we face and what might yet become possible. Briefly, we need to fall in love again, but this time with Nature, with Civilisation and with our hopes for the future.”
Produced by Brian Eno. Post-producer – Leo Abrahams. All voices and instruments by Brian Eno except:
Leo Abrahams – guitar on "Who Gives a Thought", "Icarus or Blériot", "Garden of Stars", "There Were Bells", "Sherry" and "These Small Voices"
Darla Eno – additional voice on "We Let It In" and "I’m Hardly Me"
Cecily Eno – additional voice on "Garden of Stars"
Roger Eno – accordion on "Garden of Stars" and "There Were Bells"
Peter Chilvers – keyboards on "Garden of Stars"
Marina Moore – Violin and Viola on "Inclusion"
Clodagh Simonds – additional voice on "These Small Noises"
Jon Hopkins – keyboard on "These Small Noises"
Kyoko Inatome – voice on "Making Gardens Out of Silence"
Album Artwork by Nick Robertson
"Garden Of Stars" and "There Were Bells" were originally performed by Brian, Roger and Cecily Eno with Leo Abrahams and Peter Chilvers at their performance as part of the Epidaurus Festival in the Odeon of Herodes Atticus at the Acropolis, Athens on 4th August 2021.
"Making Gardens Out of Silence" was originally included in a sound installation which is Brian Eno’s contribution to the London Serpentine’s long-term, interdisciplinary programme addressing the ongoing climate emergency, Back To Earth. The version on the album is an edit for space reasons, with the full version on CD (and presumably digital).
There are some vinyl variants for collectors: black, clear (with alternative artwork), both black and clear LPs for people who can't make up their minds, and with/without a print.
- Pre-order the album
- Lauren Laverne interviews Brian (about 8:50 in, available until August 27)
Bonus points trivia: "These Small Noises" was played by Karl Hyde on BBC Radio in 2005, making this probably the longest amount of time for an Eno track between airplay premiere and track release. Not that anybody apart from EnoWeb was keeping notes.
ENO ON SHOW
As mentioned in the previous news item, Brian has a sound installation at the Serpentine North Gallery, London, Making gardens out of silence in the uncanny valley, as part of Back to Earth. In Dublin, Ireland, Face to Face is also running on screens in Wilton Park
- Back to Earth (runs until 18th September); photo © readsreads.info
- Face to Face (probably runs until 30th September); another link here
AUDIOVISUALS
Last year, Fred Again.. played a few of the tracks he and Brian had been collaborating on, for a Rinse FM show. And there are some videos from Ambient Kyoto.
- Fred'n'Eno (from 38:40 through to 52:46)
- Ambient Kyoto official video, here, here, here, here, here, here, here
- Old Mexico press conference footage (2011)
- Brian provided music for ITHAKA, a documentary on the campaign for Julian Assange's freedom