Brian Eno is MORE DARK THAN SHARK

INTERVIEWS, REVIEWS & RELATED ARTICLES

Q JANUARY 2020 - by Simon McEwen

LEE 'SCRATCH' PERRY: HEAVY RAIN

Radical dub refit of the Rainford album. With added Brian Eno.

Lee Perry has called On-U Sound's Adrian Sherwood his "shepherd", not least because the UK producer has steered the reggae maverick through his best solo work since Scratch's fabled Black Ark studio was torched in 1983. This dub companion piece to Rainford, the pair's superb collaboration from this year, even manages to go one notch higher. Brian Eno lends squiggly synth to the voodoo chug of Here Come The Warm Dreads, while ex-Skatalite/Wailer Vin Gordon's trombone injects a lush, jazzy levity to Crickets In Moonlight's wonky groove. But it's Sherwood's trippy, nuanced treatment which makes Heavy Rain special, working his sound-desk like an artist swirls colours on a palette. A masterclass in mixology.