Brian Eno is MORE DARK THAN SHARK

MORE DARK THAN SHARK - FEATURE

LUX

Lux is Brian Eno's first solo album on Warp Records and his first solo album since 2005's Another Day On Earth.

It finds him expanding upon the types of themes and sonic textures that were present on such classic albums as Thursday Afternoon, More Music For Films and Apollo: Atmospheres & Soundtracks. Eno sees it as a continuation of his Music For Thinking project that includes Discreet Music (1975) and Neroli (1993).

LUX is one of Eno's most ambitious works to date; it is a seventy-five-minute composition in twelve sections that evolved from a work housed in the Great Gallery of the Palace of Venaria in Turin, Italy, during 2012 -

"I started writing 12 Seasons: Music for the Great Gallery in my studio in London. I had seen pictures and plans of the Reggia di Venaria and I was confident I had found the right approach: I worked for a few weeks on a track that I brought to the Reggia for testing in May 2012.

When I listened to it in the extraordinary context of the Great Gallery, however, I realised that it was not right. What I had composed - in my studio in London, wrapped up in England's grey climate - was introspective and somewhat dark. There was not doubt in my mind that it was an "interior" track. What is most striking about the Great Gallery - and you realise as much only when you step into it - is that it is soaked in light and space: nothing further from an 'interior' feeling. Juvarra had designed it to invite the world to get in, so it seemed appropriate that music should exist inside as well as outside of space, almost like a cloud or an atmosphere that would envelop the construction from the outside.

Conceptually, this music is similar to other works I did around forty years ago (e.g. Discreet Music, 1975). I am still deeply fascinated by the range of transformations that are possible starting with a limited 'stock' of original notes, and this piece is a perfect example in this sense. Nevertheless, there is also a new starting point. Building on the Reggia's 'classical' imprint, I wanted to make sure that the track was made up of several 'movements' rather than a single block. Thus only four or five or six of the original seven sounds I had decided to work with will eventually be used in each section. This means that the emotional quality of each section is slightly different, and as it progresses, the piece evolves and takes on different overtones.

I love the Great Gallery of La Venaria, it is a sort of secular cathedral, and I hope that my music will encourage more people to spend time in the Gallery than it is normally the case."

The album is Eno's third for Warp, following two collaborative albums Small Craft On A Milk Sea (with Jon Hopkins and Leo Abrahams) and Drums Between The Bells (with Rick Holland).

Tracks: Lux 1 / Lux 2 / Lux 3 / Lux 4

Written and produced by Brian Eno

Additional musicians: Leo Abrahams - Moog guitar / Nell Catchpole - violins and violas

Additional mixing: Peter Chilvers

Images by Brian Eno / Design by Nick Robertson

FORMATS

• Vinyl (180g DMM-cut double-LP in gatefold sleeve with four 300x300mm prints and download redemption code card)
• CD (in gatefold sleeve with four 120x120mm prints)
• Download

Selected Reviews: BRIAN ENO: LUX by Michael Dwyer, Rolling Stone NOVEMBER 2012 • BRIAN ENO: LUX by Colm McAuliffe, The Stool Pigeon NOVEMBER 2012 • BRIAN ENO: LUX by Mark Richardson, Pitchfork NOVEMBER 2012 • BRIAN ENO: LUX by Marcus J. Moore, Drowned In Sound NOVEMBER 2012 • BRIAN ENO: LUX by Lucy Jones, New Musical Express NOVEMBER 2012 • BRIAN ENO: LUX by Darryl G. Wright, PopMatters NOVEMBER 2012 • BRIAN ENO: LUX by Jason Heller, A.V. Club NOVEMBER 2012 • BRIAN ENO: LUX by John Mulvey, Uncut DECEMBER 2012

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