Brian Eno is MORE DARK THAN SHARK

INTERVIEWS, REVIEWS & RELATED ARTICLES

Electronic Sound APRIL 2024 - by Mat Smith

BRIAN ENO: ENO

This soundtrack to Gary Hustwit's documentary of the same name provides a neat reminder of Brian Eno's polymathic brilliance. Here we have Eno the collaborator, partnering with Daniel Lanois, John Hopkins, John Cale and others. We also have the ambient pioneer (Ho Renomo with Cluster), the left-field pop musician (Stiff), the proto-punk (Third Uncle) and the plaintive choirmaster (Everything That Happens with David Byrne), alongside many other incarnations.

Three previously unreleased tracks are included on the soundtrack. All I Remember is a wistful, nostalgic ballad, with Eno emotionally trawling through memories as if gazing sadly at curling old photographs. Lighthouse #429 finds him in a fractured jazz-funk mood, like a throwback to his Spinner album with Jah Wobble and Jaki Liebezeit. The album highlight is the fragile, mournful and reverential 2021 recording of By This River, performed at the Acropolis with his brother Roger, which is truly among his most moving moments. An essential, though naturally incomplete, survey of Eno's myriad musical strategies.