Brian Eno is MORE DARK THAN SHARK

INTERVIEWS, REVIEWS & RELATED ARTICLES

Long Live Vinyl MAY 2020 - by Ben Wardle

ROGER ENO & BRIAN ENO: MIXING COLOURS

Astonishingly, the Eno brothers have never previously collaborated as a duo. Younger sibling Roger's first appearance on vinyl was on Brian's 1983 seminal Apollo, but there the brother's work together was augmented by Daniel Lanois. Now, they're on their own. It's therefore a relief to report that Mixing Colours is very much what fans of either artist would hope for: stark, spacious and atmospheric settings from Brian using distinctive piano-led melodies from Roger. The project started, as Roger put it, "as a back-and-forth conversation we were having over a fifteen-year period." Typically, Brian has conceptualised their work, comparing traditional instruments to islands and noting that electronics enable "all the spaces in between those islands" to be explored, "yielding new sounds that have never previously existed." It would be easy to be cynical about this and point out that we've heard a keyboard shrouded in reverb before, but that would be churlish because this is a great album. Roger's yearning piano melodies are subtly given distinctive mood and space to breathe by Brian without distracting the listener with superfluous sonic experiments. The running order reads like a swatch list from Farrow & Ball (Deep Saffron, Rose Quartz, Desert Sand), and all the tracks blend into an enormous landscape. Listen closely and themes emerge - Spring Frost, Verdigris and Cerulean Blue all share the same descending melody, for example. The listener can thus easily relocate to a peaceful solitude of icy tundra.