Brian Eno is MORE DARK THAN SHARK

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The Herald APRIL 29, 2001 - by David Keenan

BRIAN ENO & PETER SCHWALM: DRAWN FROM LIFE

Despite his bewildering associations with such dunder-headed groups as U2 and James, Brian Eno remains an intelligent and fascinating presence on the fringes of countless musical genres, most of which he invented himself decades ago. Drawn From Life is his first new record in four years and it's a collaboration with German percussionist and DJ Peter Schwalm. It's always pretty thrilling to hear real drums with electronics and the combination works well with Schwalm's restless trilling serving to animate Eno's minimal electronics, but it all starts to mush and blur halfway through, becoming virtually indistinguishable from countless other ambient experimentalists, despite the potentially-invigorating presence of Laurie Anderson on vocals. Maybe everyone else has finally caught up with him but he just doesn't sound as vital as he once did.