Eno - Reflection

[fumi]

Album artwork.

 

[fumi]

Drowned In Sound Review.

 

 

Transport yourself into an Enotopia with the ambient master’s latest release on Warp Records. Through the hour-long, other-worldly journey you can still hear the rattling from his previous journey with The Ship, the echoes that are still ruminating from Apollo, and the distant hue that will forever linger in existence thanks to Music For Airports. Reflection is the latest in Brian Eno's ambient series that has been running for over four decades; a series which no-one else has come close to emulating and comes to show that we are in the presence of one the greatest musical masterminds of our lifetime.

Reflection captures Eno at his best. His most recent output has been dominated by a series of collaborations alongside the likes of Karl Hyde, Jon Hopkins and David Byrne. Although 2016’s conceptual project The Ship touched upon some of the great, ambient qualities that defined his earlier output, in reality there hasn’t been an album of this intense deepness for over two decades. It is a pure form of Eno-esque ambience filled with emotive-colour that is reflective of his Music for Airports period. And purposefully so. Recorded as one track, at just under-one hour in length, Reflection is aptly titled, as the artist looks back on how his music in particular makes people feel, and the conversations it leads them to engage in. Recorded in one live take, built upon styles and musical processes that have been developed over the past few decades, Reflection almost feels like a gift – in which we are fortunate enough for Eno to have given us.

There are not so many artists out there who have been as influential as Eno. An artist who created his own genre – a style of ambience that set the tone for modern music as we know it. Writer Maya Kalev who crafted the term ‘power ambient’ to define the modern, revivalist sound that encompassed music from artists such as Lawrence English and Ben Frost – a sound which has been ever-present in today’s musical landscape. And as relevant and important as these artists are, Reflection sits as a body of work that provides a different perspective on contemporary ambient. It feels less urgent. It paints with melodies, allowing each and every listener to have their own relationship with the music. Just imagine a conversation between Eno and that of ‘80s producer Gigi Masin, and how it could sound, with their impressionist approaches to soundscapes.

'It’s the music that I later called "Ambient",' writes Eno as an accompanying note to the LP. 'I don’t think I understand what that term stands for anymore - it seems to have swollen to accommodate some quite unexpected bedfellows - but I still use it to distinguish it from pieces of music that have fixed duration and rhythmically connected, locked together elements.' Reflection is quintessentially Eno. A beautiful, thought provoking and introspective body of work that is composed in a way that is still as unique and as radical as the man himself.

[ascdi]

Man, not sure I am prepared to splash out for the app, but I’m excited about this.

 

Thanks as always for the careful news coverage, @fumi!

[fumi]

Mary Anne Hobbs plays world exclusive preview.

 

Fast forward to the 78th minute mark.

 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b0863sz5

[Friendly Stranger]

Gorgeous

[hello spiral]

The hyperbole in those quotes make me want to fucking vomit.

 

I know Doug Rocket was meant to be Dave Stewart but he reminds me more and more of Eno.

 

[fumi]

The hyperbole in those quotes make me want to fucking vomit.

 

I know Doug Rocket was meant to be Dave Stewart but he reminds me more and more of Eno.

 

 

 

Yeah, been an Eno fan for over thirty years but I get tired of his pseudo-intellectual, academic pretentiousness. In recent years it's kind of becoming annoying because it starts to overshadow the work itself.

 

In a way, he's not doing himself any favours because you hear or read him talk about stuff and it sounds more interesting than what actually gets released. However, I do think that part of this is his reputation as some kind of 'musical professor' (a label he's been given over the years), so I guess he just plays up to it.

 

Judging by the beautiful textures and atmospherics on the Mary Hobbs preview, he doesn't really need to create some narrative around it the time.

[fumi]

Reflection iOS App is now available for those thinking of buying it.

 

http://geni.us/w6e2FyP

[fumi]

Happy new year, everyone.

 

[Stock]

Well yeah it does sound beautiful but I really can't let myself sinking in it for almost an hour straight. Stopped listening around the 30mn mark because I felt it was too repetitive.

I'm not a fan of ambient in general, and never really got into any of Eno's ambient releases (listened to Music for Airports and Discreet Music tho). Don't know if I should start with another of his releases but I think it's quite boring to be honest.

 

Is the generative app good ? Can you really go "further" than the release or is it always the same melodical patterns playing ?

[fumi]

Well yeah it does sound beautiful but I really can't let myself sinking in it for almost an hour straight. Stopped listening around the 30mn mark because I felt it was too repetitive.

I'm not a fan of ambient in general, and never really got into any of Eno's ambient releases (listened to Music for Airports and Discreet Music tho). Don't know if I should start with another of his releases but I think it's quite boring to be honest.

 

Is the generative app good ? Can you really go "further" than the release or is it always the same melodical patterns playing ?

 

 

It is good but you have to like Eno's particular brand of ambient. In a way, it's not meant to be listened to (in the normal sense), but serve rather as a background for your activities - you could say the same for practically every long-form ambient thing he's ever done. He's not breaking any new ground here - except for the true generative ability of the iOS app.

 

The app features (so far) most of the sounds from the album but after some time, new elements start to come through. The beauty of the app is that it's basically letting the program decide what happens and this leads to some very interesting moments.

 

The downside of this sort of thing is that if you don't like the core elements Eno has fed into the program, you are never going to warm to the results - no matter what permutation they take.

 

If you don't like the album, you aren't going to enjoy the app. And it's over-priced, IMO.

[Squee]

I gave the sample on iTunes a quick listen and like Stocko said, it's hard to dive into an hour of ambient unless it's an actual mix. Instead it let me to buying a bunch of his old tunes which then let me to think about him as a sound artist. He might just be the only sound artist who has made conceptual music that I actually like.

 

Also, the app seems super brilliant! But I'm not quite sure I want to spend that much money on something that I can't demo first.

[Stock]

 

Well yeah it does sound beautiful but I really can't let myself sinking in it for almost an hour straight. Stopped listening around the 30mn mark because I felt it was too repetitive.

I'm not a fan of ambient in general, and never really got into any of Eno's ambient releases (listened to Music for Airports and Discreet Music tho). Don't know if I should start with another of his releases but I think it's quite boring to be honest.

 

Is the generative app good ? Can you really go "further" than the release or is it always the same melodical patterns playing ?

 

 

It is good but you have to like Eno's particular brand of ambient. In a way, it's not meant to be listened to (in the normal sense), but serve rather as a background for your activities - you could say the same for practically every long-form ambient thing he's ever done. He's not breaking any new ground here - except for the true generative ability of the iOS app.

 

Yeah I read somewhere that he really created his ambient pieces as "background music", so I usually listen to it while working or playing but I don't know, there's always something off-putting about both the music and the way I listen to it - I feel like it's too good to be just background sounds but it's too repetitive and "plain" (imo) to really get lost in it.

 

It's a shame because Brian Eno is an artist I respect and I really want to like his stuff. Maybe I'm just trying too hard tho !

[fumi]

 

 

Well yeah it does sound beautiful but I really can't let myself sinking in it for almost an hour straight. Stopped listening around the 30mn mark because I felt it was too repetitive.

I'm not a fan of ambient in general, and never really got into any of Eno's ambient releases (listened to Music for Airports and Discreet Music tho). Don't know if I should start with another of his releases but I think it's quite boring to be honest.

 

Is the generative app good ? Can you really go "further" than the release or is it always the same melodical patterns playing ?

 

 

It is good but you have to like Eno's particular brand of ambient. In a way, it's not meant to be listened to (in the normal sense), but serve rather as a background for your activities - you could say the same for practically every long-form ambient thing he's ever done. He's not breaking any new ground here - except for the true generative ability of the iOS app.

 

Yeah I read somewhere that he really created his ambient pieces as "background music", so I usually listen to it while working or playing but I don't know, there's always something off-putting about both the music and the way I listen to it - I feel like it's too good to be just background sounds but it's too repetitive and "plain" (imo) to really get lost in it.

 

It's a shame because Brian Eno is an artist I respect and I really want to like his stuff. Maybe I'm just trying too hard tho !

 

 

 

You'd probably be better with his other albums, short-form atmospheric works like 'On Land' and 'Apollo'. And dare I say, his 70s stuff like 'Taking Tiger Mountain (By strategy), Another Green World & Before And After Science.

 

Of the longer stuff, beginners and casual listeners only really need 'Thursday Afternoon (1985). It still remains his best long-form ambient piece.

[hello spiral]

I've always found Eno to be massively overrated tbh. And I've checked out a LOT.

Not heard Thursday Afternoon, will get on it.

[Consul]

I may have finished listening to this. Wanted to actually take my time and get this, put it on my phone, close all lights. Then I just layed down on the bed and started listening. I may have slept during the experience a couple of times, but the overall feel is really good.

 

I'm saying "I may have finished" because it has been like 1.30hr since I started listening and when I woke up, it was on 30 minute mark. I probably finished it. Who knows. It was great nonetheless.

[kirm]

I really enjoyed it. Lovely in the background while I was reading earlier then let it play through again while pottering about the house

 

But long form ambient pieces are an odd one for a proper album release as you can end up feeling a bit short changed

 

Ae had the right idea with putting an long ambient thing at the end of quadrange ep. I mean I really like that track as background ambient music but if they had put that out as a "proper album" I would have been well disappointed

[fumi]

The only thing I've found disappointing about this album, (although I'm not so sure it applies to the app due to it's constantly unfolding nature) is that the actual sounds he has chosen to program into the algorithm that produces what you hear on 'Reflection' are pretty uninspiring.

 

21st century Brian Eno has a very peculiar idea of what constitutes a beautiful sound. The actual textures and atmospherics don't do an awful lot for me and are, dare I say it, old-fashioned. They are the sort of sound he was producing back in his Koan period.

 

I appreciate that he's trying to let a machine dictate what happens but he could have given it better sounds to play with. While I applaud his desire to bring generative music to the fore, nothing on 'Reflection' even remotely comes close to the beautiful sounds on albums like 'Thursday Afternoon' and 'The Shutov Assembly'.

 

Ironically, the instruments he used on Shutov Assembly (I'm guessing late 80s Korg Series, Roland D50 and Yamaha DX7 all treated and maniplulated) sound more modern and futuristic than the (largely) uninspiring sounds on 'Reflection'.

[Cheladrix]

What has me interested in the app is how, according to that interview above, it will sound different at night than during the day. And that there's also a year long cycle based on the seasons built in as well. Neither of these features are mentioned in the press release, and I'm wondering if there might be other variables that change the way the algorithms function. Many people have mentioned the high price, but he might actually be losing money on this thing if development costs got excessive.

[fumi]

I've had the app running for days now. I can vouch for the composition morphing into something else during the early hours.

[khov]

Strangely, i like its old fashioned / Koan circa 1995 style. I do not own the app (i'm PC/android so...) but i'm wondering if the melodies do really changes or if its mostly loops. I dont have anything against loops : i love the 77 Millions paintings DVD software, its audio part works with various loops from i understood, recreating Ikebukuro (from Shutov Assembly or sounding like this track, as does most Eno "generative" CDs) in an endless version : even if the patterns are obviously repeated, the mix of various patterns is new and unique.

I guess that the Reflection app is way more and truly generative. 

[fumi]

It is truly generative. I often hear unique combinations after a few hours. The problem is that the palette the algorithm plays with consists of boring, unmemorable and unlovely sounds.

[cwmbrancity]

Ossian Brown from Cyclobe mentioned in interviews a few moons back degenerative forms of digitization, where a media file degrades over time, with the point that you could then re-integrate the alterations into a composition/creative process

 

Eno has his moments, but when Malcolm Gladwell et al are endlessly choking on your cock it must be hard not to over-intellectualize working processes, aims/objectives, music theory and cultural wankery

 

Gonna break this release out tonight after a chaotic seasonal break and see what this lp is really doing, cos as Sleaford Mods once said:

 

"Brian Eno, what the fuck does he know? Doodling away with a fucking alien haircut, mate......"

[mcbpete]

Strangely, i like its old fashioned / Koan circa 1995 style. I do not own the app (i'm PC/android so...) but i'm wondering if the melodies do really changes or if its mostly loops.

During a recent interview with Jarvis Cocker it definitely came across as if the whole album was generative like the app:

 

FFwd to about 1hr 5mins here

 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b0872pq4

 

Really love this album and haven't really been into Eno since the early 80s releases. There's just something about the key it's in, the range of instrumentation, and the choice of sounds themselves (think the VSTi Chromaphone is at work possibly) that comes across like a lovely warm towel wrapped around you. Trundled the streets in the evening from work one day last week with this on my earphones and it was just bliss.

 

Anyone know if the app will be on Android in the future ?

[fumi]

The standard release (CD, Vinyl, Download etc) is just basically Eno starting the app and at some unspecified point in time pressing record on his equipment and then 54 mins late pressing stop. It's just a snapshot of what the app was generating during that time.

 

I dunno if there will be Android stuff. Has he made any apps available on the platform in the past?

 

Actually, Eno doesn't handle all the software anyway. That's Peter Chilvers.