Brian Eno is MORE DARK THAN SHARK

INTERVIEWS, REVIEWS & RELATED ARTICLES

The Independent DECEMBER 13, 2017 - by Andy Gill

TOM ROGERSON WITH BRIAN ENO: FINDING SHORE

His background in jazz, contemporary classical and avant-rock serves Three Trapped Tigers' Tom Rogerson well on what is effectively a solo piano album subjected to Eno's subtle treatments (some triggered by Rogerson's fingers breaking infra-red beams as they traverse the keyboard). Inspired by a shared affinity for the Suffolk landscape, these are mostly small, pastoral ambient pieces which drift, as the title suggests, over the shifting coastal flatlands: Idea Of Order At Kyson Point opens the album with deliquescent droplets of high synth tones gradually surmounted by rippling piano, while in Marsh Chorus, the glistening piano and wispy threads of synth are joined by chirping birds. The floating, improvised manner is corralled occasionally by a gently juddering electronic pulse or brief minimalist motif, but the mood overall is pleasingly free of volition: even the more rhythmical elements, like the clunky, softly marimba-like chords of The Gabbard, or the prepared-piano puttering furtively in March Away, are sufficiently wreathed in reverb to dampen any unduly high spirits.