“Mixing Colours” is an additional chapter to the occasional joint works of Brian Eno, the more famous musician/producer, and ambient pianist Roger Eno. Comprising a double album of eighteen gentle medium-length tracks, it immediately strikes one as perfect for lockdown. Roger’s slow, melodic-but-ambient-and-almost-forgettable piano figures are mixed and treated by Brian to produce a sonically spaced-out feel that floats in the background. Played as background, tracks blend into one another with pleasing cohesiveness, the pallid tone offset by occasional striking almost-choruses. Played in the living room with a glass of wine, the album stimulates meditation. Not a single tune seems surplus. How does this add to Brian Eno’s foundational work on ambient music? I have to say I’m unsure, because by definition very little sticks in memory, but right now, in April 2020, “Mixing Colours” is, despite its glacial speed and sombre tone, just the uplifting mind music we need.
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