09-11-2025, 18:35
ROGER ENO ~ Without Wind, Without Air
![[Image: OTItODUxMC5qcGVn.jpeg]](https://i.discogs.com/Saj20p3YaVI1xgqlmpwy3pXi6LAYoCQNcZTbMBBbPpI/rs:fit/g:sm/q:90/h:600/w:600/czM6Ly9kaXNjb2dz/LWRhdGFiYXNlLWlt/YWdlcy9SLTM1NTkx/MjMzLTE3NjI0ODgx/OTItODUxMC5qcGVn.jpeg)
Which coincidentally perfectly describes our weather today! I’ve been letting this one simmer bit. Release date was 31 October. It is unlikely to appeal to many, if any on the board, but I like Roger Eno’s sensibilities. Seems to me that he has a great capacity for empathy, and emotion – perhaps too much for his own good at times! When someone feels so much and with unflinching honesty translates that into music, it can be a less than comfortable listen. That vulnerability, the willingness to wear one’s heart on one’s sleeve, creatively at least, leaves an artist exposed which cannot be easy at all – it’s also what makes people respond positively – that evidence of humanness, so it’s something of a duality!
I found a second listen more informative to my ears. You have to get acquainted with this work, you know? Unlike most of his previous releases, on which there are very few vocals, there are a scant handful here, himself on one of them, his daughters, Cecily and Lotti Eno, on others as well as an appearance by soprano Grace Davidson.
In my imagination, there is heartache and grief here, along with a few other observations on the human condition, the knots we tie ourselves up in and have to unravel somehow, in order to live with ourselves, both as individuals and collectively, and the messy world we currently inhabit, but contrary to how that may come across in words on paper (so to speak), it’s not at all unlistenable – rather an important, considered, and carefully constructed essay.
The title track is especially ominous to me (sounds almost like a digeridoo) - probably synths – there is no track-by-track instrument listing at this time but most are obvious. There is a mix of solo piano and orchestrated pieces which includes the Scoring Berlin strings on several tracks and the cover design is by Cecily Eno – it’s a mayfly.
Released by Deutsche Grammophon and pinned as ‘Classical’ - I find it to also err on the side of ambient or at least a combination of the two. He is deliberate and quite minimalist in his approach.
Here is the opener then - “Without Wind, Without Air” … https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TcFc6AZD5Bk
… Mr Eno on “The Moon and the Sea” …
Which coincidentally perfectly describes our weather today! I’ve been letting this one simmer bit. Release date was 31 October. It is unlikely to appeal to many, if any on the board, but I like Roger Eno’s sensibilities. Seems to me that he has a great capacity for empathy, and emotion – perhaps too much for his own good at times! When someone feels so much and with unflinching honesty translates that into music, it can be a less than comfortable listen. That vulnerability, the willingness to wear one’s heart on one’s sleeve, creatively at least, leaves an artist exposed which cannot be easy at all – it’s also what makes people respond positively – that evidence of humanness, so it’s something of a duality!
I found a second listen more informative to my ears. You have to get acquainted with this work, you know? Unlike most of his previous releases, on which there are very few vocals, there are a scant handful here, himself on one of them, his daughters, Cecily and Lotti Eno, on others as well as an appearance by soprano Grace Davidson.
In my imagination, there is heartache and grief here, along with a few other observations on the human condition, the knots we tie ourselves up in and have to unravel somehow, in order to live with ourselves, both as individuals and collectively, and the messy world we currently inhabit, but contrary to how that may come across in words on paper (so to speak), it’s not at all unlistenable – rather an important, considered, and carefully constructed essay.
The title track is especially ominous to me (sounds almost like a digeridoo) - probably synths – there is no track-by-track instrument listing at this time but most are obvious. There is a mix of solo piano and orchestrated pieces which includes the Scoring Berlin strings on several tracks and the cover design is by Cecily Eno – it’s a mayfly.
Released by Deutsche Grammophon and pinned as ‘Classical’ - I find it to also err on the side of ambient or at least a combination of the two. He is deliberate and quite minimalist in his approach.
Here is the opener then - “Without Wind, Without Air” … https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TcFc6AZD5Bk
… Mr Eno on “The Moon and the Sea” …
"The surest sign that intelligent life exists elsewhere in the universe is that it has never tried to contact us." ~ Bill Watterson