Brian Eno - Discreet Music

An ambient piece predating his successful "Music for Airports", "Discreet Music" is based on only four notes, played with an ultra-soft synthesiser sound. It seems to work by playing the fragments of phrases on top of each other at different speeds, as layers of clouds shift across the sky.

The flip side consists of Eno's take on one of the most rehashed chord sequences of all time, Pachelbel's Canon. His three variations are arranged for string section, connecting smoothly into one another. The variations are constructed using mathematical and random-chance techniques, but it sounds far from mechanical. Fragments of Pachebel's melodies emerge subtly through a stoned wash of string sound. Like on the title track, the chords sound eerily out of phase with each other, as if the strings are being played with a sustain pedal constantly held down. Interesting experimental stuff and not at all wallpapery.

April 26, 2004

7 out of 10

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