Brian Eno is MORE DARK THAN SHARK

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The Evening Standard APRIL 29, 2016 - by David Smyth

BRIAN ENO: THE SHIP - "FAILS TO HOLD ATTENTION THROUGHOUT"

The musician and producer returns with an ambient collection lacking warmth

It's another ambient Eno album, but with singing!

That means two suites - one weighing in at over twenty-one minutes, the other over twenty-six - with lyrics constructed using an algorithmic text generator into which Eno fed everything from the words of Titanic survivors to email disclaimers.

He's trying out a new voice here, having discovered that at sixty-seven he can now hit a low C. He twists his vocals digitally to sound even more portentous on the title track, while electronic drones ebb at a glacial pace.

Originally conceived as a sound installation in Stockholm, it's something that could be better dipped into, failing to hold attention throughout.

When the final part of Fickle Sun sails in, a blissful cover of The Velvet Underground's I'm Set Free, a welcome warmth arrives that is missing elsewhere.