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— The Analog Vault // Essential Listening —

Widely credited as the first album that coined the term “ambient music” - Brian Eno’s 1978/79 masterwork on Polydor Records was the gentlest of breakthroughs. While the prolific producer and composer did not invent the genre, this record certainly popularised it. As Eno explained, ambient music “must be as ignorable as it is interesting," so as to “induce calm and a space to think”. Here, Eno elevates the previously insulting phrase of “background music” to the status of high art. Ambient 1: Music for Airports relishes in its minimalist, tranquil and opened-ended atmosphere - creating a passive yet deeply absorbing listening experience. Comprising four soothing compositions moulded from simple piano melodies, the layering of spliced tape loops, synth washes and embedded voices - Eno’s swirling, repetitive soundscapes are drenched in serene beauty. - The Analog Vault

“With his 1978 album Ambient 1: Music for Airports, English musician/producer/conceptualist Brian Eno coined the terms “Discreet Music” and “Ambient” as “music designed to induce calm and space to think.” The album, comprised of four dissimilar yet completely cohesive movements, was created with simple keyboard melodies, serial tape loops and embedded voices. The effect is sheer weightlessness, the disc’s soft ebb and flow of synthesized patterns imbued with live brass and strings. More than just spatial white noise, Music for Airports is the sonic equivalent of visual art. Eno’s sculpture of sound has inspired numerous imitations, briefly fulfilling its postmodern destiny as an audio installation at NYC’s LaGuardia Airport.” – Slant Magazine

“Four subtle, slowly evolving pieces grace Eno's first conscious effort at creating ambient music. The composer was in part striving to create music that approximated the effect of visual art. Like a fine painting, these evolving soundscapes don't require constant involvement on the part of the listener. They can hang in the background and add to the atmosphere of the room, yet the music also rewards close attention with a sonic richness absent in standard types of background or easy listening music.” –
— via All Music

Label: Polydor / Virgin EMI Records
Format: Vinyl, LP, Album, Remastered, Repress, 180g
Released: 2018 / Original: 1978/79
Genre: Electronic
Style: Ambient

File under: Ambient / Experimental / IDM
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