NEROLI - THINKING MUSIC PART IV

Brian Eno produced a series of wonderful ambient records in the seventies, but this attempt from 1993 to recreate that feeling falls short in my opinion. It goes one step too far in its loss of clear melody lines and development at the attempt to create a new soundscape. Eno himself states in the sleeves notes that he wanted to make music that existed on the cusp between melody and texture, and whose musical logical was elusive enough to reward attention, but not so strict as to demand it. Better listen before buying.

The most ambient of all Eno's experiments in this field, Neroli makes Discreet Music sound like Metallica jamming with Motorhead. The recording features treated piano playing simple interlocking motifs in the Phyrgian mode (it says in the sleevenotes). There's no discernible rhythmic, harmonic or melodic development - the music simply hangs in the air like the perfume it's named after. It's very nice to listen to at low volume as you drift off to sleep, but if you've already got some of Eno's ambient albums it's not really essential.

Ok I'll give this one a boost up. The first time I heard Neroli I was very disappointed and thought I'd wasted my money, then sold it soon after. However, years later and on my second copy I finaly appreciate it. Neroli has a beauty that is more akin to a late Morton Feldman piece than a 'traditional' enoesque ambient piece. I say don't play it quietly in the background but turn it up loud. This has become one of my favorite Eno records.

This album is not easy to review. As a matter of fact, there's a question on if 'Neroli' should actually be listened to as a record, or used as a background 'thinking music' while you read, sleep, relax, meditate etc. An hour-long piece consists of single notes being played on a synthesizer giving an eerie, cosmic feel. It's not dynamic at all, it does not change the volume or the tempo for all of its 58 minutes. So it maybe monotonous and boring to some, but it's nice listening to it after any other music - it will calm your nerves no matter if you were just listening to Frank Zappa, Slayer, The Prodigy or Deep Purple.

I don't know about you, but it's late and I'm kinda sleepy. Think I'll give 'Neroli' a spin and head for Dreamland ASAP ...

If we define music as "sound in time" then this is music by definition. But you won't find here any cadences, any melodic argument and no harmony whatsoever. Instead this album represents an exploration in the latitude of sound, its expansion as a spatial event by means of a series of pitches taken from the phrygian mode (the phrygian mode is mentioned in the liner notes), which is very similar to a natural minor scale. The result is fascinating, a seemingly random Arabic mood which goes nowhere and everywhere, a monotonous repetition that drives the subconscious mind in unison with the also monotonous movement of the air, the dreamy nature of the universe and the relentless movement of atomic particles. The duration aspect of Neroli is also interesting in the exploration of mood: is it long? is it short? Why do I replay the cd each time? Is it too long or too short for what? You may find the 58 minutes of this fantastic exploration a complete bore, as you would find boring any attractive argument but spoken in a language that you don't understand. I believe Neroli has enough merits to be in my "must have" collection.

Brian Eno is definitely one of most eclectic and well respected artist in the 20th and 21st century. He is a visual artist, a composer, and a well pronounced music creator. He is both a rockstar and a ambient mastermind with his style and craft of his albums to where each, even the ones that are more quiet and reserved do have a certain specialty that some other bands cannot achieve. And I like to say that Brian Eno is less of a musician and more of a artist who makes sound into his art. His early career definitely was more akin to your usual music affairs, however I think his ambient works is where he truly shines his brightest. Albums like Music For Films, Discreet Music, Ambient 2, and The Ship are all very beautiful pieces of electronic and ambient music that I like to listen to in the background due to their quiet and calming sounds. It definitely takes time to fully appreciate what these albums are and mean to people, but they are definitely meditative in their core values, and I think those values can be best represented with this album, Neroli.

This album only has one song, a 57, nearly hour long track which has been a sort of staple with Brian's work, for example one of his more recent works, Reflection being a one hour long track. This one long track is kinda hard to fully describe. Despite it's length the album has a more straight forward idea, being that it's thinking music. The alternative title for this track is Thinking Music Part IV, and so that is exactly what it is. There is no crescendos, not off the wall playing styles, no electronically advanced instrumentation, just notes being played along a synth. However this can also be more than just thinking music it can be sleeping music, reading music, music to cool your head, things like that.

Furthermore the tempo is really slow, obviously. In fact I do not even think there should really be a tempo, since if there was wouldn't there be some sort of beat. Instead I am gonna say the speed is really slow. The album goes for a long while, and I think that is not a surprise, however it definitely gives it a different feeling from most of Brian Eno's albums aside from the 30 to an hour long songs. Most of Eno's songs are more quick to go through than this one, in fact I believe this one was made to be a lot more slower to entice the feeling to work and well, think. It takes its time is what can be said, and it's definitely patient sounding as well which I really think adds to the very lovely charm this album has.

However not everything is perfect, obviously. The main problem I have with this album is actually what I love about this album, and that it's thinking and patient music. It does not entice, it isn't grand, it's just a nearly hour long ambient piece of sound. For some that is pretty alright, but for a lot of music fans they cannot really stand this sort of music, or rarely listen to it due it being a lot more ambient and technical than a swinging boogie, and I honestly get what they mean. Not even I would listen to this for hours and hours each and every day because that'd be a waste. It's thinking music, not music music, and I don't think even Brian Eno would want that. It's intended to be music for relaxation and thought, not to jam out to.

After all that though I can safely say that I really like this album. It's very calm and therapeutic in what it tries to achieve, and I believe it achieves these aspects ten fold, however I can definitely see why someone would rather not listen to this because of the fact that it's less of a musical experience and more of a thoughtful one if that makes sense. So while I really like it, I definitely do see why it may be less preferable, especially when starting out with Eno's work.