BRIAN ENO-LUX.

dereksmusicblog ♦ November 20, 2012 ♦ Leave a comment

BRIAN ENO-LUX.

It seems only fitting given how often I review albums of electronic music, that I review Brian Eno’s new album Lux. After all, Brian Eno is the Godfather of electronic music and one of the genre’s founding fathers. Ever since his days with Roxy Music, Brian Eno was an innovator, looking to explore and push the boundaries of music. When he eventually tired of constantly touring with Roxy Music, Brian Eno decided to pursue a solo career. In many ways, Brian turned his back on fame and fortune, in pursuit of his art. Glam rock he realized, was a passing phase. Electronic music was the future. He was interested in technology and taking his inspiration from minimalist painting which interested and inspired him, decided to forge a career in ambient music. Brian released his debut solo album Here Come the Warm Jets in 1973, with ambient classics like 1975s Another Green World, 1978s Ambient 1: Music For Airports and Music For Films following soon after. During that period, Brian was busy with his “other career,” as a producer. 

This included David Bowie’s Berlin Trilogy of 1977s Low and Heroes and final instalment, 1979s Lodger. Since then, Brian Eno has released over twenty albums and produced some of the biggest groups in music and forged a career as a remixer. He’s produced albums by Talking Heads, Devo, U2 and ahem, Coldplay. Brian has also remixed tracks by Massive Attack and Depeche Mode. Apart from production work and remixes, Brian Eno has collaborated with artists that include David Byrne, Robert Fripp and Robert Wyatt. Then there’s Brian Eno’s interest in the arts and politics. So it’s no wonder that Brian Eno solo albums are becoming something of a rarity. Granted, he’s collaborated with Jon Hopkins and Leo Abrahams on 2010s Small Craft On A Milk Sea and with Rick Holland on 2011s Drums Between the Bells. Fittingly, for an artist as innovate, inventive and bold as Brain Eno, both these albums were released on Warp Records, a label known for, and which prides itself on releasing innovative music. It’s Warp Records that recently released Brian Eno’s latest album Lux, his first solo album since 2005s Another Day On Earth. Seven years later, Brian is back, with what he calls “his most ambitious work to date.”

Lux, which is Brian’s first solo album for Warp Records, and sees Brian find inspiration from two sources. One is artwork he discovered in The Great Gallery of the Place of Venaria in Turin, Italy. There are twelve sections to Lux, which is separated into four tracks. The other inspiration are his classic seventies ambient albums. He reflects on, and builds upon the themes and sounds that can be found on albums like Ambient 1: Music For Airports and Music For Films and later, his 1983 album Apollo-Atmosphere and Soundtracks. Together with Leo Abrahams on Moog Guitar and Neil Catchpole on violin and viola, Brian came up with four tracks, that last seventy-five minutes, where he revisits and revisits his classic ambient sound, bringing it up to date with a makeover. Will Brian Eno prove that the music on Lux is just as relevant and innovative as it was in 1973, on his debut album Here Come the Jets? That’s what I’ll tell you, after I’ve told you about the four tracks on Lux.

Opening Lux, is Lux 1, a meandering, somewhat moody, spacious and thoughtful soundscape. Washes of synths, keyboards wistful strings and an occasional, elegant stab of piano enter. It’s almost as if the arrangement is stretching, awakening, not unlike a flower opening in spring. You can hear Brian’s seventies ambient sound shine through. This is contrasted with darker, moodier keyboards and strings. The arrangement is in no rush to reveal its secrets and hidden depths. Layers of music unfold. Often, as Miles Davis pointed out, the space between the notes is just as important. Occasionally, the music takes on an Eastern sound. Brian seems determined to challenge the listener, adding sounds that change your mood, make you think and sometimes, even slightly unsettle you. Quite simply, it’s compelling, complex and full of contrasts. One minute it’s beautiful, wistful and pensive, the next challenging, moody and almost makes you feel uneasy. Certainly it’s never bland, never predictable and like so much of Brian Eno’s music, innovative.

Waves of jarring music resonate as Lux 2 unfolds. Brian it seems, wants your attention. With strings and synths producing a sound that’s certainly challenging and even, slightly unsettling and disturbing, you’re forced to take notice. Again, Brian references the sound of Ambient 1: Music For Airports and Music For Films, and sometimes, Apollo-Atmosphere and Soundtracks. He does this subtly. It’s not a case of copying the music, but reminding the listener of its importance and innovation, but what it can become. Using this, and of course the artwork from Turin for inspiration, a gently cascading, mood-altering soundscape reveals its layers and textures. Bells, synths and strings take turns of massaging your senses in a way that’s pleasant and pleasing. Then Brian decides you need challenged. Then the sounds can unsettle you, make you think of their meaning and effect. This is ambient music for the mind. Rather than background music, which some ambient music becomes, this stimulates internal and external discourse, challenging you and your mind. What is the music about, what does it mean and what does it mean to me, and in a wider context? That this all stems from eighteen meandering, minimalist minutes of music is even more impressive.

Lux 3 has a fuller sound as it opens. Waves of bolder music, roll into the distance. Replacing them is space. Eventually, another wave of music replaces it. Instantly, you can tell this is Brian Eno. It has “his” sound. Anyone familiar with his seventies ambient classics will realize this. Sometimes, Brian separates the music. Panned right are the unsettling side of the track, panned left is the melancholy, wistful sound. Then just to shake things up, he switches things around. It becomes like two sides to Brian Eno’s music. Darkness and light. Morning and night. Hope and desperation. Contrasting sound and layers of music unfold. I can hear the influences of Ambient 1: Music For Airports and Music For Films. Back then, Brian Eno was at the forefront of ambient music. Now nearly forty years later, that’s still the case. He may be older, and certainly wiser, but don’t let anyone try to tell you  he’s any less innovative or relevant. This quite beautiful, cerebral, pensive and melancholy track is proof of this.

Closing Lux is Lux 4. Dark, spacious stabs of challenging, jarring music open the track. It’s like Brian is laying down the gauntlet. Stay with me if you can. Persist and you’re privy to some wistful, thoughtful and haunting music. Just keyboards, with echo and delay used subtly and spaciously, meander along. They almost float in your mind’s eye. Close your eyes the music paints pictures. It takes your imagination on a journey, if you’ll let it. Mostly it’s relaxing, pleasant and pleasing, but even when Brian lays down a challenge, you rise to it. You enjoy where he and the music take you. He uses the old panning trick. Left side is pleasant and dreamy, while right side is dark and moody. When they become one, the music takes on an eerie, but quite beautiful, minimalist sound. From there it wanders and meanders taking you and your emotion and imagination on a journey of discovery, not unlike the one in Alice In Wonderland. Here, things are dreamy, pleasant, minimalist and full of secrets, surprises and subtleties, except they’re musical. Just don’t be late, for this very important date…with Brian Eno.

Thirty-nine years after his debut album Here Come the Warm Jets, Brian Eno released his first solo album for seven years, Lux. People wondered whether he’d been sidetracked by art, politics, production work and remixes. Would this be the return form from Brian Eno? Was he still the innovator, the elder statesman and Godfather of electronic music? Could he somehow, release an album that showed that after forty years making music, he still had something to offer? The answer to that is straightforward. ‘Yes’. Lux sees Brian Eno combine his vintage, classic seventies and early-eighties ambient sound and with the help of technology old and new, produces a complex, multi-textured album, Lux. On Lux, twelve sections are contained within four track. They’re not unlike the changing seasons, offering something new and different. Each track toys with your emotions, takes you on a journey, painting pictures in your mind and takes you places you never expected to go. For your part, you close your eyes and enjoy a musical journey that’s variously melancholy, wistful, challenging, beautiful, elegant and always, innovative. While many of Brian Eno’s counterparts cease to be relevant musically, although they’re still releasing music, Brian Eno is forever the innovator, forever inventive, creative and open to experimenting musically. In many ways, Brian Eno is the last man standing when it comes to seventies music, as Lux proves beyond doubt. Standout Tracks: Lux 1,Lux 2, Lux 3 and Lux 4.

BRIAN ENO-LUX.