Brian Eno is MORE DARK THAN SHARK

INTERVIEWS, REVIEWS & RELATED ARTICLES

Record Collector DECEMBER 2015 - by Paul Bowler

LARAAJI - AMBIENT 3: DAY OF RADIANCE

The story behind this collaborative album has long been the stuff of Eno legend. Laraaji, formerly Edward Larry Gordon, was playing his zither in New York's Washington Square Park, eyes closed, deeply immersed in his music. Opening them, he found a politely worded note from the former Roxy Music man asking if he'd like to collaborate and within weeks the pair had entered the studio to record a project that would become the third part of the pioneer's ongoing Ambient series.

Always regarded as something of an anomaly amongst the entries, Laraaji's music, full of interlocking hammered electrified zither textures, has at first glance, more in common with New Age and Indonesian gamelan than the background enhancing wash of sounds Eno first envisioned under the ambient banner. That argument is undoubtedly true of the first half of the record, with the propulsive rhythms of Dance #1 determinedly in the foreground. The second half is closer in spirit to Eno's original vision and benefits from the producer's subtle but effective sonic treatments. Best of all is the joyously beautiful Meditation #4, whose slowly unfurling cascade of zither has the bucolic, meditative effect of Sunday village church bells.