Brian Eno - Sound Opinions Interview

Listening to this discussion with legendary musician / producer / sonic innovator Brian Eno, I was struck (though not in the least surprised) by the calm, considered confidence of his responses to the interviewer's prompts. Not even remotely approaching hubris, this is a man who has thought deeply about the nature and intent of his art and is perfectly prepared to articulate his findings in clear, concise language.

We're treated to his thoughts on the evolution of "music" since the introduction of multi-track recording (with a particularly apt comparison to the parallel development of theater and film after the invention of the motion picture camera); the recording studio as musical instrument; the power of self-imposed boundaries on the creative process; and the role of collaboration in the ever-more-isolating world of electronic music production. All this is presented against a supporting description of his life and personal artistic development, from an English kid discovering "black music" by way of nearby US military bases, to his experiences as a member of Roxy Music, to producing his own music and eventually some of the most seminal work from David Bowie, The Talking Heads, U2, and others. This is an interview well worth fifty minutes of your time.

Sound Opinions (Show 310): Brian Eno

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There are noteworthy quotes galore in there, but one that I found particularly resonant:

"I think that was really the thing that made it possible for us to work together so successfully- the Talking Heads and him [David Byrne] in particular all those years ago, because they had come to what they were doing, a lot of it had to do with sort of 1970's funk, and people like Hamilton Bohannon and Al Green that they'd be listening to- soul and funk.

I'd come from listening to African music, particularly Fela Kuti -- West African music -- and we kind of met… we realized that there was possible a kind of music that was somewhere in the middle of those things, and yet still felt like something we were adding- you know, the sort of geeky white people on top could still make a contribution to that. And if I don't get something like that feeling from music I don't think it's working. If it's just clever or loud or has all the right software or something, I'm not that interested. What I want... I'm looking always for soul, even in a record like Music for Airports, which you wouldn't think of as a soul record. But if I'm not moved at that level, if I'm not feeling at some point that it's possible that this could move me to tears, or to dancing, or to something where I've slightly surrendered to it, if that doesn't happen, it just stays on the shelf- it's an experiment until then."