Brian Eno sings for the first time in 17 years on new album: "I create sonic worlds - this time I wanted to have somebody in the landscape"
There Were Bells is the climate-focused lead single from the forthcoming full-length project FOREVERANDEVERNOMORE
Brian Eno has announced the release of a new album, his first vocal-led solo project since 2005.
FOREVERANDEVERNOMORE explores themes surrounding environmentalism and the climate crisis over 10 tracks that feature contributions from Roger Eno, Jon Hopkins and Leo Abrahams. Eno has shared a new single, There Were Bells, that was written for a performance by him and his brother Roger at UNESCO World Heritage site, the Acropolis, in 2021. Watch the video for the new single above.
“Like everybody else - except, apparently, most of the governments of the world - I’ve been thinking about our narrowing, precarious future, and this music grew out of those thoughts,“ Eno says of the record.
“Perhaps it’s more accurate to say I’ve been feeling about it…and the music grew out of the feelings. Those of us who share those feelings are aware that the world is changing at a super-rapid rate, and that large parts of it are disappearing forever…hence the album title.“
“These aren’t propaganda songs to tell you what to believe and how to act. Instead they’re my own exploration of my own feelings. The hope is that they will invite you, the listener, to share those experiences and explorations.“
Though he began his musical career as the synth player in Roxy Music, Brian Eno has become widely recognised for his pioneering work in ambient and experimental music. FOREVERANDEVERNOMORE will mark the first time since 2005's Another Day on Earth that Eno has released a solo project on which the majority of tracks feature his own vocals, signalling a clear departure from the instrumental, generative approach of 2017's Reflection.
“I’ve been making mostly instrumental music for quite a few years now, and I like that. I’m a landscape painter in terms of music, but this time I wanted to have somebody in the landscape,“ Eno told Lauren Laverne on BBC 6 Music.
“I like creating worlds - that’s what I do as an artist. I create sonic worlds. Now, after a long absence of humans in those worlds, I’ve decided to try putting one in and see how the human feels in this world I’ve made.”
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I'm MusicRadar's Tech Editor, working across everything from product news and gear-focused features to artist interviews and tech tutorials. I love electronic music and I'm perpetually fascinated by the tools we use to make it. When I'm not behind my laptop keyboard, you'll probably find me behind a MIDI keyboard, carefully crafting the beginnings of another project that I'll ultimately abandon to the creative graveyard that is my overstuffed hard drive.
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