Brian Eno is MORE DARK THAN SHARK

INTERVIEWS, REVIEWS & RELATED ARTICLES

Morning Star JULY 12, 2023 - by Simon Duff

BRIAN ENO AND FRED AGAIN: SECRET LIFE

An ambient song masterclass album from Fred again.. and Brian Eno is recommended by Simon Duff.

When Brian Eno came up with the idea for ambient music in the '70s he envisaged a radical new form: a sound that could fit into existing sonic environments with no need to be centre stage. Taking ideas from Impressionist painting, Debussy and others as reference points, some fifty years later the genre is still being explored.

Eno remains prolific, and his latest offering is a forty-five-minute song-based collection made in conjunction with Fred Gibson (aka Fred again..) released on Four Tet's Text record label. Gibson started his career as an apprentice working in Eno's London studio before going onto to write, produce and DJ.

The album opens up with I Saw You. Eno's minimal piano sound and chorused bass combine with off centre, semi-sung vocals - seemingly found scraps - over curious percussion and floating synth pads, and all full of light and shade.

Secret Life uses further spoken word snippets and heavily processed banjo leanings at a slow tempo. Radio is a beautiful exploration of radio voices set against a pleading melancholic lead vocal.

Throughout the album Eno and Fred more than pay homage to the music of Burial. Songs are framed then structures seemingly withdrawn in a bid to discover a deeper focus and meaning.

It certainly works.

The highlight track is Cmon, a moving ode to fading memory and loneliness backed by Gibson's imaginative arrangements, a host of different vocal contributions fused into a tremolo collage combined with distant dance and pop sensibilities. The duo have learned a lot from each other as their influences collide with both success, and intentions met.