High Life works because it disposes with the guest spots and instead gets to the good stuff: Eno and Hyde’s minds.
For people that have put out two albums in a row, Brian Eno and Karl Hyde don’t sound too tired. In fact, their second album High Life shows two artists at the top of their game. Jamming out and most importantly, having fun in thoughtful new ways. The patented Eno production we got to hear used by different artists is put to the test here; repetition runs rampant in album opener “Return,” a nine minute song that may well prove to be an endurance test if it wasn’t such a gorgeous track.
“DBF,” the second track, is one of the most playful tunes in the album. Three basic elements, a guitar, a bass and drums don’t go in crescendo as much as they experiment with different kinds of intensity. “Time To Waste” on the other hand, brings the album to a halt after “DBF,” as wonderfully tinkered vocals accompany an uneasy guitar. The album ends on a quiet, but equally playful note with “Cells & Bells.”
This is an album that’s short but sweet. The aim of High Life was to develop some of the ideas leftover from Someday World, but what this shows is that perhaps we should be listening to Eno and Hyde shoot the shit musically instead of trying hard to come up with a fully formed song. High Life works because it disposes with the guest spots and instead gets to the good stuff: Eno and Hyde’s minds.
High Life is available on Warp.
