Brian Eno is MORE DARK THAN SHARK

INTERVIEWS, REVIEWS & RELATED ARTICLES

Elsewhere JULY 19, 2011 - by Graham Reid

BRIAN ENO: DRUMS BETWEEN THE BELLS

Brian Eno first encountered the work of poet/spoken word artist Rick Holland more than a decade ago and despite some small attempts to collaborate things didn't come to much. Until now.

Here Eno creates the textural soundbeds for these readings of Holland's work by various people (himself included) and sometimes they have a drilling, intense electrostatic quality (Glitch, Sounds Alien, Multimedia), at other times they are appropriately gentle and err towards a kind of drifting astral ambience (Dreambirds, The Airman, Cloud 4).

With sixteen pieces it is inevitable some are more successful than others (the Kraftwerk-like opener Bless This Space is very promising, Eno on the industrial trip-hop of Dow is among the best) and you have to accept that some readers (and perhaps Holland) think that by leaving huge gaps between words it imbues them with more emotional weight.

It doesn't, just draws attention to the emptiness of the some of the imagery.

So a mixed bag of occasionally transcendental sound with astutely evocative distilled words and other musical material which sounds like it was from the "one I prepared earlier" box.

Apparently there is a double CD version, the second disc just being Eno's music. That could actually be the way to go for Eno-aficionados.