Brian Eno - Small Craft on a Milk Sea

by Paul Waller

published: 12 / 11 / 2010

Label: Warp Records
Format: CD

Inspirational latest album, his first for Warp Records, from Brian Eno

Review

Last year I began to dabble into the works of Brian Eno. With a career spanning decades and a prolific work rate second only to Prince there was a lot of vinyl for me to wade through. After a ridiculous amount of money spent and many an hour with headphones on lying on the bed with the lights out I came to the conclusion that Brian Eno makes emo for the thinking man. No other musician can stir the heart quite like his and it’s something that once you become hooked to his ambient style you never grow tired from. So I was filled with great excitement and expectation when I was handed his new album 'Small Craft on a Milk Sea' to review. None other than the Sheffield/London hipsters at Warp Records had managed to gain the man's signature and whilst news had spread throughout the internet about this record happening over the past few months it’s such an awesome thing to finally have it in my hands, this partnership has at last churned out this equally awesome product. Like 'The Lord Of The Ring's trilogy this album, though a linear piece can be split into three parts of the whole. The first four songs beginning with the gentle ambience of 'Emerald & Lime 'will be most familiar to those that listen to Eno’s score work on a regular basis and continue upon that path until 'Flint March' kicks in with some pounding drums and snazzy electronic elements that have a feint African flavour. When the middle part of the record kicks off it is here where all cards are definitely off the table. 'Horse' continues with thee electronic drums yet the earthy sounds of what has gone before is eradicated and a more mid period Aphex Twin or even Squarepusher-esque approach is utilised. '2 Forms Of Anger' dips the pace but keeps up the weird and after that the pimp ghetto keys of 'Bone Jump' just completely throw me every time. It’s almost a comedy sketch and does little but distract the natural flow of this piece. By 'Paleosonic' Emo and his two contributors Leo Abrahams and John Hopkins utilize all that was great about 90’s electronica and infuse it with some distorted jazz guitar runs. It’s a whole lot better than that sounds though I assure you. For the final section of the album Eno uses the trusted bookend technique by returning to the film score style of his 1983 effort 'Apollo: Atmospheres and Soundtracks'. In particular 'Lesser Heaven 'and the eight minute long finale 'Late Anthropocene' feel incredibly cold and weightless and are the crème de le crème on here. To have one of my favourite labels release one of my favourite artists is pretty cool ,but to have him release his best work since 2004’s effort with Robert Fripp’s 'The Equatorial Stars' is something very special indeed.

Track Listing:-

1 Emerald And Lime
2 Complex Heaven
3 Small Craft On A Milk Sea
4 Flint March
5 Horse
6 2 Forms Of Anger
7 Bone Jump
8 Dust Shuffle
9 Paleosonic
10 Slow Ice, Old Moon
11 Lesser Heaven
12 Calcium Needles
13 Emerald And Stone
14 Written, Forgotten
15 Late Anthropocene