Rich, captivating, beguiling – the music of composer Roger Eno exudes an atmosphere that can transport the minds and spirits of his audience far away from where they settle their physical selves.
That’s a sensation many can look forward to, for the English composer of ambient minimalism will perform at Melbourne Recital Centre later this month.
It’s amazing what sensations a sparse and minimalist canvas of music can illicit, more so when they undertake a reworking. Ahead of his Australian visit, Eno has been busy working on a reimagining of the 1983 album Apollo: Atmospheres and Soundtracks, which sees a return to work with original collaborators, brother Brian Eno and Daniel Lanois. It’s the first time the group have worked together in over 30 years, this project coming just in time for the 50th anniversary of the first moon landing.
“We’ve also done a second album,” Eno says of the project, “and it’s deliberately not harking back to the first one. It’s not exactly difficult to get the sound but the process is different; technology has moved on, so we decided to fully encompass that. We worked apart, working by MIDI files. We weren’t in the same place when we were working.”
Eno’s interests lie in acoustic instruments and the psychology of a musician when they perform his works. “I’ll write music but I’ll write music with very few directions on how to play it,” he says. “Which allows the interpreter to have a very big say in it – but I often won’t even say how fast things are supposed to be, so they can make things up themselves.
“Now, when you get three people in a group doing that, you get these very interesting conversations going on about approach, space, so that’s what I’m interested in, human interaction, really.”
And what better way to experience human interactions and a stripped back acoustic setting than at Eno’s upcoming performance. Eno has set up this concert to be a feast for the senses, collaborating in recent years with visual artist Dom Theobald. “He needs a big shout, this chap,” says Eno fervently. “His element has become critical to what I do.
“He takes still images and, with computer processes, makes a film about it – this one consists of images, most of which I took when I’m out on my bicycle – and he’ll make them kind of spooky. What you’re looking at is a very weird type of silent film.
“So I will accompany that, or this will accompany me, depending on what you’re looking at. I started doing this because a lot of the music I write now is getting almost homeopathic; trying to take as many notes out, leaving lots of gaps.”
For audience comfort, Eno says he wanted to give them the visuals to focus on – but subliminal prompts are in place for the audience to listen in a certain direction. “You can be struggling to listen for a melody that may be implied – it’s very sparse music that I do – and as soon as you put a visual element there, each person creates their own links between the music and the visuals.
“They’re nice pictures – but then it can be poisoned by what you put under it in musical terms. It can make you question, ‘Well, what am I seeing? What impression am I getting from this? Why do I think this when I see, say, a Tudor house?’”
The combination of the two may spark, Eno hopes, an emotion the audience might not necessarily feel should these mediums be presented to them as separate entities.
“[Theobald’s] work is really quite beautiful,” says Eno., “I’m by no means ashamed to use these things in earnest. Since we’ve started working [together], he’s become a critical part of what I do.”
Roger Eno performs at the Melbourne Recital Centre in Elisabeth Murdoch Hall on Saturday June 29 alongside Mary Lattimore and Julianna Barwick. Grab your tickets via melbournerecital.com.au.
