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Death + Taxes SEPTEMBER 14, 2011 - by Kevin Pinner
BRIAN ENO EXPLORES POETRY ON NEW EP
No stranger to exploring the role of words in music, Brian Eno has a new EP coming out on Warp in early November.
Fans on Eno will note a trend in his work: poetry. Drums Between The Bells, released earlier this summer, is a collaboration with poet Rick Holland. His new EP, Panic Of Looking, furthers this exploration with Holland.
"A panic of looking at the what that we've got," Holland repeats with mounting tension at the end of the title track below. Leave it a poet to know which lines have enough weight to merit repetition: the words condense meaning, and their performance evokes the emotion they describe.
The song is decidedly not spoken-word, but rather a blend of music and poetry. It manages to tow this line because of Eno's keen ability to create subtle arrangements that never lose our attention even though they waver from the foreground.
It's not often that something as grandiose as "the exploration of how lyric and song-writing are perceived in the post-everything era," which is how Warp described the release, actually seems to do what it intended.
We're left with anticipation after another session with someone who truly explores songwriting's boundaries and limits.
Brian Eno continues to do no wrong.
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