Brian Eno - "Ambient 4: On Land" (1982)

A dystopian future where a lonely man walks through a deserted city, in the darkness of night, with the fog as the sole companion. But it's as if something dark and threatening is waiting around the corner, invisible to the eye, or around the next corner, or the next. Where have all the people gone? Yes, these are the kinds of visions Eno's fourth and last works in his ambient suite evoke in me. It's dark ambient, not gloomy, rather subtly threatening, but at the same time beautiful. His eighth solo album.

These are not songs in the traditional sense, rather sound sculptures as is often the case with Eno and similar musicians. It's quite synthesizer based, but also sounds from nature are heard, such as frogs. Despite the fact that the year was 1982 and electronics were less developed, the sound feels fresh and rather timeless. Someone may think it sounds like I describe some kind of new age music, but that's not the case. It's significantly darker and frankly much better and more interesting than the new age music I've had the bad luck of hearing.

Many songs have names for different geographic location in the UK, places that I don't know. On the fourth song, Shadow, Jon Hassell plays on his trumpet, in the typically Hassell way, run through various strange effects. On the opening track, Lizard Point, we hear Bill Laswell on bass, and on the fifth track, Lantern Marsh, Daniel Lanois participates with live equalization, whatever that is. Some well-known people, besides the protagonist himself.

I like the album. Compared to much of Eno's other ambient records, both from the ambient suite and other records, this album is darker. No dreamy piano playing, embedded in deep layers of synthesizers. No, the end of society, few survivors and dark spirits that have been awakened from its slumber down by the roots of the mountains. Side B feels slightly lighter, though, as if humanity has finally been erased and the harmony of nature once again prevails. A sunrise where sadness and hope are mixed.


Tracklist

Side A
1. Lizard Point 4:34
2. The Lost Day 9:13
3. Speak Coat 5:30
4. Shadow 3:00

Side B
1. Lantern Marsh 5:33
2. Unfamiliar Wind (Leeks Hills) 5:23
3. A Clearing 4:09
4. Dunwich Beach, Autumn, 1960 7:13