Album insights
Roger Eno, a composer and pianist, has released his new mini-album titled "the skies: rarities." This collection features eight unreleased reimaginings that were created during the recording session of his second DG solo album, "the skies, they shift like chords," which portrayed a thought-provoking journey through sound and silence. The melancholic tone in "rarities" stems primarily from its thematic focus on environmental threats posed by intensive agriculture and climate change. Eno shares, "When recording an album, I typically have an abundance of ideas, allowing me to curate a final 'collection' with a carefully thought-out sequence." This attention to detail is crucial for him, often resulting in surplus material for not just one but two albums he is content with—rarities being the second album in this scenario. Among various solo piano tracks, "rarities" includes a piece for choir and electronics called "Patterned Ground" and one for a string orchestra known as "Breaking the Surface." The instrumentalists from Scoring Berlin were asked for the latter to incorporate improvisations in addition to following the score. Guitarist Jon Goddard contributes to the track "Into Silence," adding a unique touch described by Eno as something that would have been missing otherwise. Furthermore, the album features the World Piano Day track "Through the Blue (Piano Version)" and the Amazon Original track "Above and Below."