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Shortly after releasing Someday World in May, ambient music master Brian Eno and Underworld’s Karl Hyde produced a second joint album over five days by recording and processing live improvisations in front of a group of journalists.
High Life feels a bit more Eno than Hyde, though the Underworld singer’s penchant for New Romanticism is evident in the winsome melodies and artfully droning guitar that punctuate Eno’s obsession with North African polyrhythmic pulsations. By dispensing with typical pop structure in favour of improvisation and repetition, the pair achieve and maintain an openness and momentum that Someday World lacked. It feels alive.
Return, with its effervescent guitar loop, bleepy melodies and swirling arpeggios, is a beautiful slow-burn intro to the album before frenetically jazzy African funk takes over on DBF. The squalling Moulded Life is the sole unwieldy track, the crescendoing Lilac provides the most sweepingly dramatic arc, and Cells & Bells is an ethereal comedown.
Top track: Lilac
