SPILL ALBUM REVIEW: ROGER ENO – WITHOUT WIND/WITHOUT AIR

ROGER ENO
WITHOUT WIND/WITHOUT AIR
DEUTSCHE GRAMMOPHON

Roger Eno (brother of Brian Eno) returns with his first solo album since 2023’s highly acclaimed The Skies, they shift like chords. While Roger Eno does write and create ambient music, his musical style is very different from that of his brother. Roger Eno’s style is much more classical based and has a great deal of melody in his music. The album does feature a couple of tracks that are somewhat ambient, but elsewhere there is solo piano, piano, and orchestra, and even singing. The album is quite diverse, yet it feels like a complete piece. To be clear, Without Wind/Without Air is not ambient. It is a Roger Eno masterpiece.

As mentioned, he does tip his hat to ambient, but even then, it is not ambient in the pure sense. A song like “Mist” is close, but it still has a different and more melodic structure. Eno employs many other instruments. The same can be said for the opening song on the album, “Forgiveness.” Co-written with Christian Badzura, who also arranges some of the songs on the album, “Forgiveness” is a very moody piece and does straddle the line into ambient music. But the vocals and arrangement take it into more of a choral piece. It is quite stirring. The orchestration is dramatic, and it is a brilliant way to open the album.

“There Was a Ship” featuring Cecily Eno (his daughter) is a surprise while the album plays. The song is not instrumental. Her voice fits her father’s playing perfectly, and it is quite an emotional song. A beautiful string arrangement accompanies Eno and his daughter, and the end result is nothing short of stunning. Working with layered voices, and, again, silence, “The Final Year of Blossom” is a remarkable achievement. There are no lyrics, and the musical accompaniment is sparse, but so much feeling is conveyed with the voices and layered sounds. Songs such as this demonstrate Eno’s genius.

But it is the solo piano pieces that are the highlight of the album. With a song, such as “Saudade,” it is not so much the piano but the silence. Eno is comfortable with silence and between the piano notes he creates absolute silence, leaving the listener waiting for the next note. The notes, strung together, form an almost otherworldly beauty and it is absolutely incredible. The sublime “Alembic Distillation” is pure classical, and he single-handedly adds a new classical piece to the genre. Although it is not entirely solo, the title track, where again Eno employs silence between the notes, but here it isn’t silent.

Without Wind/Without Air is one of Eno’s best solo efforts, and let’s face it, he has released a number of brilliant albums. With Without Wind/Without Air, one gets the impression that Eno is moving the goalposts of the boundaries of music. It is hard to classify this album into one genre, and that is his intention. It is music. Beautiful, meditative, contemplative and soul searching music. Without Wind/Without Air is the perfect title for this masterpiece, because at times one is left gasping at the wonderful sounds being produced. It is a work of art and one of the best albums of the year.

Artist Links