BRIAN ENO

BRIAN ENO

I will first start off by saying that previous to this post I was only familiar with about 50% of Eno’s work. Absorbing the genius of Another Green World as a child while the black circle spun on my record player was the start of it all. David Bowie’s Low album was another record that constantly played in my bedroom. I was introduced to Roxy Music in high school and thought to myself how incredible and artistic the music was. Myself, as a keyboardist and artistic individual will further explore the revolutionary mind of Brian Eno.

Brian is influenced by many forms of art as well as certain sounds that surround him. The ambient music that he creates blends natural noises with synthetically treated sounds. “Listening to the world in a musical way” made Eno a pioneer in the music industry and paved the way for artists such as Moby, Trent Reznor, Aphex Twin, etc.

Brian Eno’s work over the years was brilliant. Discreet Music and Remain in Light are just two examples of his diversity. Eno stated that Discreet Music was a new way of hearing music and an experiment in algorithmic, generative composition. “This presented what was for me a new way of hearing music”. This was a very experimental album that was intended as an ambience piece of work for Robert Fripp. Remain in Light, produced by Brian Eno, consisted of more sonic experimentation and was critically acclaimed as one of the best albums from the 80’s. “What we wanted was to create something more mysterious, and by taking voices out of context, but featuring them dominantly as the main vocal performance, you can go create meaning by surrounding the voice with a musical mood. In a way it was an experiment to see if you can create fairly sophisticated moods with voices outside their linguistic meaning,” Eno stated.   

Brian had multiple characteristics that set his projects apart from other recordings throughout his whole career.  He not only layered sounds and music but also layered many artistic ideas and then combined various forms of art to make a project a whole or a concept. Eno simply just has a way of bringing music to life whether he is using tape recordings, synthesizers or ambience that surrounds him. As a listener, I find his work phenomenal. I can really appreciate the way his mind works when it comes to music. When I used to work in steel factories, sometimes the only thing that got me through the day was listening to all the machines and creating an industrial sounding song in my mind. I would keep a pen and paper in my pocket and write down ideas and patterns that stood out to me at work and then go home and make a song out of it. I can definitely hear how artists like Trent Reznor were influenced by his work, especially with the Ghosts album that Reznor recorded. For anyone that isn’t familiar with Brian Eno’s masterpieces, I would start listening. I, personally am now working on purchasing his whole discography.

Howard, D. N. (2004). Sonic alchemy: visionary music producers and their maverick recordings. Milwaukee, WI: Hal Leonard Corp.