Brian Eno Drawn From Life CD

'Drawn from Life' sees Brian Eno collaborating with German DJ J. Peter Schwalm. This collaboration produced soundscapes of jazzy, shuffling rhythms and strings that sway from cutting to sighing lay the foundation of most of the tracks. Laurie Anderson lends her voice, on 'Like Pictures Part #2,' This Astralwerks release has 10 tracks.

Additional personnel includes: Nell Catchpole (vocals, strings); Michy Nakao, Irial, Darla, Lynn Gerlach, Laurie Anderson (vocals); Leo Abrahams (guitar); Heiko Himmighoffen (percussion); Holgar Czukay.
Recorded at Outshine Studios, Frankfurt, Germany in January 2001.
Composers: Jan Peter Schwalm; Brian Eno.
Personnel: Duchess Nell Catchpole (vocals, strings); Laurie Anderson (vocals); Leo Abrahams (guitar).
Audio Mixer: Jan Peter Schwalm.
Recording information: "Kah" Bonn.
Following four years after The Drop, Drawn From Life sees Brian Eno collaborating with German DJ J. Peter Schwalm. (Music for Onmyo-Ji, a previous Eno/Schwalm work from 2000, was released in Japan only.) Those who soured at the distant crispness of The Drop will find this to be a more inviting listen, even more so than Eno's 1996 collaboration with bassist Jah Wobble on Spinner. Jazzy, shuffling rhythms and strings that sway from cutting to sighing lay the foundation of most of the tracks, with some repetitive nonmusical effects often falling somewhere in the mix. If there is a fault of the record, it's that the vocals often get in the way of some fine background listening. If you don't have an affinity for Laurie Anderson's voice, you might be troubled that "Like Pictures, Pt. 2," which otherwise happens to be one of the record's most melodic and tranquil tracks, is interrupted by her intonations. One might find the babbling contributions from Eno's young daughters on "Bloom" to be far less obstructive, but that's because they're more a part of the fabric of the song, rather than an interruption or distraction. There's plenty to enjoy for devoted Eno fans, although nothing truly sticks in the mind after the most attentive listen. ~ Andy Kellman

Entertainment Weekly (6/01/01, p.91) - "...Few know how to tenderly calibrate a digital landscape as skillfully as Eno..." - Rating: B
Q (6/01, p.106) - 3 stars out of 5 - "...Music for dinner parties....so easygoing it's almost characterless. Ambient's inbuilt criticism-bypass means that this is precisely the point..."
Magnet (9-10/01, p.92) - "...Eno brings interesting and complex rhythmic counterpoints to his 3am atmospherics..."
The Wire (5/01, p.61) - "...An uunusal sense of depth: pinpoints of sonic light set within incense-heavy atmospheres; sound forms receding through gradations of audibility to the spooky gloom....a good record..."
CMJ (5/28/01, p.12) - "...Brilliant and blissful....music to be enjoyed on a sensual level..."
Mojo (Publisher) (5/01, p.102) - "...Tracks drift like stately royal barges floating slowly downriver, and the entropic mood is strengthened by the placement of 2 lengthy pauses towards the album's end....vague, shadowy pleasures half-glimpsed through the mists of Eno & Schwalm's crepuscular textures."