The Ship
Brian Eno
(Warp Records)
Three-and-a-half stars
Brian Eno combines ambient textures with droning vocals and a sterling cover of a Lou Reed tune on The Ship – a powerfully challenging and gloomy recording that ends in bright revelation.
Eno draws from what he sees as similar historical events, particularly the sinking of the Titanic and First World War. The album's 21-minute title cut reflects the soundscape of the ocean's depth before Eno arrives singing like a Byzantine choir of foghorns. Fickle Sun has three sections.
The first transition is initially smooth, the tragedy on the sea also enveloping the battlefields. Then Eno’s register rises, his voice skimming the land where “all the boys are going down, falling over one by one”, and humans are “turning back to clay”. Distortion and sound blasts evoke the combat and a horrified survivor repeatedly recounts “When I was a young soldier ...”
At the close, a bright light shines through the ocean and across the front – a sumptuous, harmony-drenched version of The Velvet Underground's I'm Set Free. It's about release, but it has a catch – "I'm set free to find a new illusion."
