Brian Eno - 77 Million Paintings (2023)

Ambient pioneer, glam rocker, hit producer, multimedia artist, technological innovator, worldbeat proponent, and self-described non-musician – over the course of his long, prolific, and immensely influential career, Brian Eno has been all of these things and much, much more. Determining his creative pathways with the aid of a deck of instructional, tarot-like cards called Oblique Strategies, Eno champions theory over practice, serendipity over forethought, and texture over craft; in the process, he forever altered the ways in which music is approached, composed, performed, and perceived, and everything from punk to techno to new age bears his unmistakable influence.

new colours a touch of nostalgia
The next instalment of Eno's interesting line of EPs. Where the previous EP was so much of a repetitious dream. 77 Million Paintings at least mixes the textures slightly more. The songs bleed into each other, but thankfully there are more layered textures, harkening slightly further back to albums like Apollo. Some synth drones even sound like his touch ups on obscure U2 songs like Bass Trap.

Most present are two parts. The slow chiming bells and the stretched out distorted beyond recognition vocals. Six times over and this "idea" I am assuming Brian Eno had with dashes of his earlier work and even a little nod to a Radiohead song like Treefingers doesn't compell enough to be a valid body. Not to mention the not well executed fades at the end of the first couple tracks. While there is more here than meets the ear on first listen, 77 Million Paintings is just in the same linear lane as the other EPs just with new colours and a touch of nostalgia.


Tracklist
1. 77 Million Paintings 1 (06:01)
2. 77 Million Paintings 2 (05:47)
3. 77 Million Paintings 3 (05:04)
4. 77 Million Paintings 4 (05:18)
5. 77 Million Paintings 5 (03:31)
6. 77 Million Paintings 6 (06:29)