Acclaimed producer and musician Brian Eno has announced an upcoming solo album called The Ship. It’ll be his first since 2012’s LUX, and it sounds like it’s gonna be quite a doozy.
According to a press release, the album — which was “conceived from experiments with three dimensional recording techniques” — is more like a novel, written in two parts — two tracks, even: “The Sea,” and the longer, multi-sectioned “The Sun.” The titular opening track is apparently 21 minutes long and features a “cyclically sung sea-chant” that “builds in ominous drama.”
The final section of “The Sun” is a cover of the Velvet Underground’s “I’m Set Free,” which Lou Reed apparently wrote for Eno. According to Eno, the Velvet Underground were to blame for his deciding to forego visual art in favor of music.
The whole project sounds very beautiful and also very high-minded and convoluted, which is, in a way, exactly what one hopes for when getting a press release from Brian Eno. He cites the Belgian fields of World War I and the ocean where the Titanic sank as sonic influences for this album. To sum it all up, Eno says “This album is a succession of interleaved stories. Some of them I know, some of them I’m discovering now in the making of them.”
The Ship is out April 29.