Brian Eno: Fractal Zoom

I got this CD single immediately after its release in 1992, because I was impatient then and couldn't wait until the album came out to hear some new Eno. I don't think there'd been any 'proper' new Eno solo material since Thursday Afternoon in 1985: it had all been production jobs and collaborations since then.

The track Fractal Zoom is OK, though in hindsight it marks the beginning of a strand of Eno's work over the last fifteen years that has never quite engaged me. It's neither fish nor fowl. Perhaps that's the intent, but often, as in this case, it ends up sounding like dance music that you can't really dance to.

The Roil, the Choke is the song I really like here. I think I heard that the lyrics, or specifically the syllables that make up the lyrics, are based on the patterns of bell-ringing and campanology. Eno half sings, half speaks the words, and it's very effective. It's quite similar to a new piece, Running Away, I saw Brian Eno perform on 8 March this year at the Holywell Music Rooms in Oxford (part of a lecture series by his old teacher, Tom Phillips, with the Composers Ensemble — all world premieres). That was also very good.

MusicBrainz has details of a release with eleven versions of Fractal Zoom. Mine only has three, which is plenty.