Brian Eno - The Ship, album review: ‘fails to hold attention throughout’ | London Evening Standard

Brian Eno - The Ship, album review: ‘fails to hold attention throughout’The musician and producer returns with an ambient collection lacking warmthNew voice: Brian Eno's new 'sound installation' is better dipped into than heard in one goShamil Tanna

Review at a glance

It’s another ambient Eno album, but with singing!

Brian Eno - The Ship

That means two suites - one weighing in at over 21 minutes, the other over 26 - with lyrics constructed using an algorithmic text generator into which Eno fed everything from the words of Titanic survivors to email disclaimers.

He’s trying out a new voice here, having discovered that at 67 he can now hit a low C. He twists his vocals digitally to sound even more portentous on the title track, while electronic drones ebb at a glacial pace.

Originally conceived as a sound installation in Stockholm, it’s something that could be better dipped into, failing to hold attention throughout.

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When the final part of Fickle Sun sails in, a blissful cover of The Velvet Underground’s I’m Set Free, a welcome warmth arrives that is missing elsewhere.

(Warp)