NEWS
Brian Eno and Beatie Wolfe have announced two collaborative albums together, ‘Luminal’ and ‘Lateral’. Listen to the pair of lead singles below.
The renowned musician, producer and songwriter has teamed up with Anglo-American conceptual artist and composer Wolfe on the dual project.
They first met through their environmental work when they gave a SXSW featured talk on ‘Art And Climate’ – which was recently selected as one of the Austin festival’s best in 25 years.
Eno and Wolfe then came together again when they were each showcasing their visual and conceptual art pieces at separate galleries in London. It was these meetings that eventually led to the duo’s musical collaboration.
Both ‘Luminal’ and ‘Lateral’ are due for release on June 6 via Verve. The material on the former is described as “dream music”, while the latter is “space music”. Fans can get a taste of what to expect with two lead singles: ‘Suddenly’ (from ‘Luminal’) and ‘Big Empty Country (Edit)’ (‘Lateral’).
Watch the two official visualisers below. You can pre-order/pre-save the albums here (‘Luminal’) and here (‘Lateral’).
The two albums were recorded sporadically by the pair throughout 2024. In a joint statement about their new work together, Eno and Wolfe explained: “Music is about making feelings happen.
“Some of those feelings are familiar, while others may not be – or may be complex mixtures of several different feelings. There are many beautiful words for such feelings in other languages and cultures – words that don’t exist in English. By giving a feeling a name, we make that feeling more likely to be felt, more tangible.”
They continued: “Art is able to trigger feelings, or feeling mixtures, that we’ve never quite felt before. In this way, a piece of art can become the ‘mother’ for a type of feeling, and a place you can go to find and re-experience that feeling.”
The two artists went on to list numerous words that reflected “some of the feelings we found ourselves working with” on the LPs. These were:
Ailyak (Bulgarian)… going slow, enjoying the process
Commuovere (Italian)… the experience of being moved
Dor (Romanian)… longing or belonging
Duende (Spanish)… getting the shivers
Fèath (Gaelic)… stillness, peace
Gezelligheid (Dutch)… warm intimacy
Ilinx (French)… strange excitement from play
Jijivisha (Sanskrit)… life lived fully
Liget (Filipino)… fiery energy, life spark
Merak (Serbian)… at one with the Universe
Meraki (Greek)… to pour yourself into something
Mono no aware (Japanese)… appreciation of life’s transience
Onsra (Boro)… the anticipation of losing love
Pronoia (Greek)… the opposite of paranoia
Sisu (Finnish)… determination, grit
Torschlusspanik (German)… fear of time running out
Ya’aburnee (Arabic)… not wanting to live in a world without someone
The CD and exclusive colour vinyl editions of ‘Luminal’ and ‘Lateral’ were manufactured using eco-friendly materials. Check out the full tracklists below.
‘Milky Sleep’
‘Hopelessly At Ease’
‘My Lovely Days’
‘Play On’
‘Shhh’
‘Suddenly’
‘A Ceiling And Lifeboat’
‘And Live Again’
‘Breath March’
‘Never Was It Now’
‘What We Are’
CD
‘Big Empty Country’
Vinyl
‘Big Empty Country’ (Day)
‘Big Empty Country’ (Night)
Digital
‘Big Empty Country Pt. I’
‘Big Empty Country Pt. II’
‘Big Empty Country Pt. III’
‘Big Empty Country Pt. IV’
‘Big Empty Country Pt. V’
‘Big Empty Country Pt. VI’
‘Big Empty Country Pt. VII’
‘Big Empty Country Pt. VIII’
Last month saw Eno surprise-release a new solo album, ‘Aurum’, marking his latest solo full-length release since 2022’s ‘FOREVERANDEVERNOMORE’.
The record arrived exclusively on Apple Music due to its use of the service’s spatial-audio technology, meaning the record won’t be available on Spotify or other streaming platforms.
Eno also opened up about using Apple’s spatial audio technology and touched on the topic of AI.
“The biggest problem for me about AI is not intrinsic to AI,” he explained. “It’s to do with the fact that it’s owned by the same few people, and I have less and less interest in what those people think, and more and more criticisms of what the effect of their work has been.”
Following ‘FOREVERANDEVERNOMORE’, Eno teamed up with Fred Again.. for the collaborative 2023 record ‘Secret Life’.
Faith No More appear to be hinting at a return to the stage in 2027.
The influential alt-metal band have remained mostly quiet over the past decade following the release of their reunion album ‘Sol Invictus’ in 2015. After its arrival, they played what would become their most recent live performances in 2016 and later called off several touring plans in the years that followed.
Now, however, they seem to be preparing fans for something new. The group recently shared an image of a concert crowd on social media with nothing more than the text “2027” placed across it.
No additional information accompanied the post, but it quickly sparked speculation among fans, many of whom believe a full scale tour announcement could be coming next year.
After wrapping up their 2016 run of shows, the band intended to return to the road in 2020. Those plans were ultimately abandoned because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Further touring plans surfaced in 2021 as venues began reopening, but those dates were also cancelled before they could begin. Frontman Mike Patton later explained that mental health struggles were behind the decision and revealed he had been diagnosed with agoraphobia during the pandemic.
Until recently, a reunion seemed unlikely. Patton spoke about Faith No More’s lengthy break and said that he did not “see it as a sad thing”.
Speaking on the Kyle Meredith With… podcast and reflecting on whether he felt a “sense of closure” after the 2016 tour, the vocalist said: “I didn’t really think so at the time, but, yeah, maybe. I think that we all kind of felt it, but it was unspoken.”
“It’s funny: when you’ve been in a band or a musical situation for a period of time, you always, in the back of your head, you’re kind of thinking, ‘Well, maybe this is it.’ And I don’t mind that feeling,” he added. “I don’t see it as a sad thing. I see it as being present and being able to really appreciate it while it’s happening.”
Faith No More have never formally announced a breakup following the cancellation of their 2021 tour, although other members have suggested in recent years that the chances of touring again were uncertain.
Last year, guitarist Roddy Bottum discussed the band's future and admitted they were in a “really weird spot”. “I can’t really tell you what’s going on. I don’t know myself. I get different information from people… and I’m in the band,” he said.
Drummer Mike Bordin echoed similar thoughts last spring, saying that he and some of the other members were willing to perform again, but claimed Patton was “unwilling to do shows with us”.
In addition to leading Faith No More since 1989 after replacing original singer Chuck Mosley, Patton has also been involved with projects including Mr Bungle, Fantômas, and Tomahawk.
Tomahawk recently unveiled plans for their first tour in 13 years, with a series of US dates scheduled for this summer. The run begins in Nashville next month and will also see Patton and his bandmates reunite with longtime labelmates Melvins for the first time since 2003.
Patton has also recently launched his tour with Avett Brothers and teamed up with Jehnny Beth on the new single ‘Look At Me’.
