Brian Eno, in collaboration with poet Rick Holland, released a new album called “Drums Between The Bells” this 4th of July, giving me more than one reason to revel in noise.
Diverse in scope, “Drums Between The Bells” features numerous approaches to the sound poem, a form Eno has been experimenting with since the release of “Dead Finks Don’t Talk” on his first solo album “Here Come the Warm Jets,” in 1973.
As a non-fan of spoken word recordings in general (hey, they can be fabulous but I almost *never* find the time or environment to listen to them), I was a bit nervous picking up this release, fearing it might languish on my shelves alongside such albums as Zappa’s “Thingfish,” William S. Burroughs’ “Spare Ass Annie and Other Tales,” and The Golden Palominos’ “Dead Inside” but my faith in Eno was not misplaced.
Similar in tone to the track “Bone Bomb,” from his 2005 release “Another Day On Earth,” “Drums Between The Bells” features a collection of interesting voices speaking not over, not through, but woven within the music; as accompaniment rather than the more typical other way around.
Rick Holland is a poet with whom Eno has been working on and off with, experimentally, since 2003. Eno heard his work performed in the late 90’s and decided these were the kind of poems he would like to work with: short phrases, powerful images, concise, sharp.
With the exception of Eno and Holland, the seven other voices contained on the album are not professional performers but people whose voices struck Eno as interesting: a Ukranian graphic designer, an Italian research officer for an NGO, a woman who works at his health club, a South African he met on the street, his Polish bookeeper, and more. The voices were then tweezed: resequenced, repeated, respaced to fit within the framework of the music itself.
The music is similarly varied and interesting, covering a wide swath styles. Playing all but a few of the instruments himself, Eno veers from somnambulant to driving to textured to excoriating (with the help of Leo Abrahams’ guitar) and back again. The energy produced on the first listen alone was enough to let me know this is going to become one of my favorites in a catalogue already jam-packed with too many gold nuggets to count. I can’t wait to hear it again – and I already am.
Available in a variety of formats (vinyl, cd, and, if you must, mp3) the best, in my opinion, is the limited edition hardback book version, essentially an overwrought set of liner notes, which comes with two cd’s – the regular release and an instrumental collection, compiled by digital co-conspirator (accused of ‘Technologicality’ in the liner notes) Peter Chilvers*, with whom Eno produced his fascinating phone apps “Bloom” “Trope” and “Air”.
I picked up this limited edition 2 disc set but now wish I’d had the sense (and money) to jump on Bleep’s offer of the Bleep Bundle, which includes the record, the limited hard back set, and the digital downloads at a pretty fabulous price. Ah, well …
Of all the silly crap I feel compelled to collect, music is that which pleases me best and longest.
* Peter Chilvers talks about his work on the second disc of “Drums Between The Bells”
