Brian Eno - Small Craft On A Milk Sea (CD, Deluxe vinyl LP box set, Double vinyl LP)

Warp Records have some great electronic music producers under their umbrella but this recent signing may well be their ultimate score for sometime, possibly even ever, for the man Eno has now joined their esteemed ranks. The man needs no introduction so onto the music. 'Opener Emerald and Lime' is a gorgeous way to begin with sublime treated piano and what sounds a little like a melodica create soothing and calming tones which make way for 'Complex Heaven' which heads straight into the gorgeous realms with more treated keys and what I think is a synthetic string but may well be a guitar. It sounds simultaneously electronic and organic and has a really heady, moody vibe. The title track uses a very similar palette and goes further into the emotionally charged sounds of the previous tracks, ending with a sense of tension.

Then 'Flint March' takes my ears by surprise with its manic almost techno feel with big synthesizer and itchy drum machine rhythms bordering on the semi industrial. Things proceed in a way heavier manner on 'Horse' with fast hi-hats and looming sense of unease and mystery all with expertly executed synthesizer trickery and what sounds like a guitar giving off the feeling of Dave Gilmour on disco biscuits. '2 Forms Of Anger' ups the intensity yet another level with tribal beats and clever contemporary sound design dynamics. The overall feeling for me is one of being bound to a log stretcher being carried towards some kind of voodoo ritual awaiting to be boiled alive in a cauldron then things start going a bit prog rock sounding and I've escaped the shackles and am heading for the bus home. 'Bone Jump' sounds like a rough uncompleted demo with its wonky motif which once you get your head around is actually rather good if a tad noodily sounding but it doesn't stick around for too long.

This can be said for all the tracks, as their running times are all quite short (except the closer). 'Paleosonic' begins with weird bleepy disjointed sounds and is promising but again the guitar comes in and just destroys it for me. 'Slow Ice, Cold Moon' and ''Calcium Needles' are a welcome step into the shadows of darker ambient while 'Lesser Heaven' treads a more conventional ambient path. Towards the end of the album classic Eno sounds re-emerge with the lush 'Emeralds and Stone'. 'Late Anthropocene' ends the journey with delicate tones and a sense of wondering where you have just been. Overall I'm not entirely sure how I feel about this record. No doubt there are moments of profound beauty to be had but personally I struggle with some of the guitar elements in the same way I do with some of the German stuff like Manuel Goettsching, i.e for the best part I'm totally submerged in it but the guitar makes me internally cringe, just a little. The LP/CD box set comes with a bonus disc and looks super swish.