Brian Eno - "Small Craft On A Milk Sea" (2010)

I just bought this record a few weeks ago, the price was so attractive I couldn't resist (half the price of an already reduced price). It was the nice box containing the music on vinyl (on two records), CD (two discs, of which one consists of four bonus tracks), a digital download and a lithograph created by Eno. A beautiful box, even if it was a little dirty, and the download code had already been used (the staff in the shop? Was it a used item? The code too old?).

The album is a collaboration with Jon Hopkins and Leo Abrahams, and is based primarily on improvisations they'd done together, inspired by film soundtracks. Five of the songs were actually written for the film The Lovely Bones, but were rejeccted. On the album we hear the classic Eno, meaning his ambient creations. The initial songs are beautiful pieces one can recognize from his previous ambient records, such as Music For Films. Atmospheric, relatively formless and soothing. Then the record changes direction into a more action-packed and loud path, where rhythms, guitars, louder synthesizers dominate, before it returns to and finishes with calm, ambient pieces. It can be mentioned that the album is instrumental.

Personally I like the quieter and atmospheric pieces a lot better than the louder ones. I'm calmed by the mood the songs create, activities like emptying the dishwasher or cleaing the house suddenly become pleasant and invite you to reflection. The louder pieces have an opposite effect, I get stressed and they border too often to noise. But a musician might think they are more fun to play, what do I know.

In other words, I like half of the album, while I have a harder time with the other half. The sound is timeless and probably sounds as good today as in 30 years (and could have been recorded 30 years ago). People who like Eno and his ambient albums, probably like Small Craft On A Milk Sea. One could argue that the album is not really necessary if you have some of his previous records, as it is to some extent more of the same. Personally, I can sit for a while and listen to Eno's atmospheric pieces, but after a while I also need to do something else, since I can get a bit bored of simply listening to the relatively formless pieces of art. But whatever you do then, cleaning the house, yelling at the kids, smashing down a wall, it will be done with a sense of calm and thoughtfulness, thanks to the filter the ambient pieces puts on the reality. The louder pieces might intensify your rage, though.


Tracklist

Side A
1. Emerald and Lime 3:02
2. Complex Heaven 3:05
3. Small Craft On A Milk Sea 1:48
4. Flint March 1: 155

Side B
1. Horse 3:01
2. 2 Forms Of Anger 3:14
3. Bone Jump 2:22
4. Dust Shuffle 1:54

Side C
1. Paleosonic 4:25
2. Slow Ice, Old Moon 3:25
3. Lesser Heaven 3:20
4. Calcium Needles 3:24

Side D
1. Emerald and Stone 2:12
2. Written, Forgotten 3:55
3. Translate Anthropocene 7:54


Bonus songs on the second CD:
1. Surfacing 2:19
2. Square Chain 2:36
3. Bimini Twist 3:13
4. Ship Abandoned 3:45