Brian Eno is MORE DARK THAN SHARK

INTERVIEWS, REVIEWS & RELATED ARTICLES

Classic Pop JULY 2019 - by Ian Gittins

BRIAN ENO - APOLLO: ATMOSPHERES & SOUNDTRACKS

In 1983, Brian Eno was asked to soundtrack For All Mankind, an arthouse cinema documentary by Al Reinert about the first moon landing. It's hard to imagine a more quintessentially Eno project.

Fifty years on from that Apollo 11 mission, Apollo: Atmospheres & Soundtracks touches down again in an augmented 2LP, 2CD or 2CD deluxe set. It could sound quaintly dated, as retro-futurist projects so frequently do. Hearteningly, it doesn't.

Although released under Eno's solo-artist name, the original album was a collaboration with his brother, Roger, and Daniel Lanois. The trio seemed intent on making a music freed from the constraints of gravity, observing lunar rules: An Ending and Drift floated, alone, in their own, deep, dub space.

The three have now reunited for a bonus disc of new material to accompany the original LP. In a very similar vein to the parent disc, its discrete tomes boast a plethora of delights: the divine Like I Was A Spectator unfolds in slow motion, an astral flower in a distant galaxy. The halcyon days of lunar exploration are long gone yet you suspect Eno will forever be voyaging beyond music's final frontiers.