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''Small Craft on a Milk Sea'' is a 2010 album by British musician and record producer
Brian Eno Brian Peter George St John le Baptiste de la Salle Eno (; born Brian Peter George Eno, 15 May 1948) is a British musician, composer, record producer and visual artist best known for his contributions to ambient music and work in rock, pop an ...
. The album—his debut with
Warp Warp, warped or warping may refer to: Arts and entertainment Books and comics * WaRP Graphics, an alternative comics publisher * ''Warp'' (First Comics), comic book series published by First Comics based on the play ''Warp!'' * Warp (comics), a ...
—was released in Japan on 19 October 2010, in the United States on 2 November, and the United Kingdom on 15 November. The album was recorded with collaborators Jon Hopkins and Leo Abrahams in 2009 and 2010 and was released in several formats, including Compact Disc; digital download; a box set featuring the album on Compact Disc, vinyl, and download, a bonus CD with four extra tracks, and a
lithograph Lithography () is a planographic method of printing originally based on the immiscibility of oil and water. The printing is from a stone (lithographic limestone) or a metal plate with a smooth surface. It was invented in 1796 by the German a ...
by Eno; and another box set with all of the previous media and a 12" square silkscreen print by Eno and a copper plate.


Recording

''Small Craft on a Milk Sea'' was recorded in collaboration with Abrahams and Hopkins in 2009 and 2010. Some sessions were recorded in September 2009, while Abrahams recorded his own album and performed with
David Byrne David Byrne (; born 14 May 1952) is a Scottish-American singer, songwriter, record producer, actor, writer, music theorist, visual artist and filmmaker. He was a founding member and the principal songwriter, lead singer, and guitarist of ...
on the Songs of David Byrne and Brian Eno Tour to promote '' Everything That Happens Will Happen Today''. The trio also entered the studio in April 2010, to record music that was rejected from the film soundtrack to '' The Lovely Bones'' and five of those tracks ended up on ''Small Craft on a Milk Sea''. The music recorded for this album was mostly improvised and inspired by the sound of soundtrack albums and film scores; some of the songs were composed by choosing random chords played for arbitrary intervals with improvised electronic parts on top of the melody and then edited together to make a proper song. When the music was recorded for the album, Eno sequenced it to create a "macro-composition" that contains themes that run throughout the album. News broke of the proposed Eno album in July 2010; the following month, Abrahams prematurely leaked details of the album, including the fact that Eno had signed to
Warp Warp, warped or warping may refer to: Arts and entertainment Books and comics * WaRP Graphics, an alternative comics publisher * ''Warp'' (First Comics), comic book series published by First Comics based on the play ''Warp!'' * Warp (comics), a ...
to release the project. On 30 September 2010, Eno released the track "2 Forms of Anger" for free streaming on the Internet to promote the album and followed this with "Horse" on 15 October. On 18 October, "Emerald and Stone" was made available for previewing.


''Seven Sessions on a Milk Sea''

Abrahams, Eno, and Hopkins also recorded a series of performance films featuring brand new improvised compositions to promote the album. A new piece was released each week for seven weeks, each with a unique partner website from a different nation. The first to go live were "Instant Nuclear Family" with Japan's '' Rockin'On'' and "Signal Success" with '' The New York Times''. The track listing for the seven sessions can be found below.


Reception

''Small Craft on a Milk Sea'' was received positively by critics. Metacritic gave the album an aggregate score of 72 based on 34 reviews, indicating generally favourable reception. PopMatters gave the album 9 out of 10, writing the album "...gives us the classically transportive experience that Brian Eno excels in creating". Andy Gill of '' The Independent'' wrote in a four-star review, "It's territory he's explored many times before... But at their best, as with the haunted De Chirico space of "Calcium Needles", these pieces are powerfully evocative". Also in a four-star review, John Bush of AllMusic wrote that "Eno may be trading on his earlier developments in ambience to a small degree, but ''Small Craft on a Milk Sea'' is a good and proper balance of curiosity and expression". '' Pitchfork'' was critical of the less ambient pieces, writing that "The 'active' category yields mixed results, occasionally sounding overindulged or dated", but praised the album as a whole, saying "When taken as little slivers of a larger poem, ''Small Craft on a Milk Sea's'' song titles present the listener with a notion of the past, present, and future existing as one holistic entity. With Brian Eno, you have a man who sounds uncompromisingly like all three". ''
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'' magazine and the '' Chicago Tribune'' were less enthusiastic, giving the album 2.5 out of 5 and 2 out of 4 respectively.


Track listing

All compositions by
Brian Eno Brian Peter George St John le Baptiste de la Salle Eno (; born Brian Peter George Eno, 15 May 1948) is a British musician, composer, record producer and visual artist best known for his contributions to ambient music and work in rock, pop an ...
, Leo Abrahams and Jon Hopkins. #"Emerald and Lime" – 3:02 #"Complex Heaven" – 3:05 #"Small Craft on a Milk Sea" – 1:49 #"Flint March" – 1:56 #"Horse" – 3:02 #"2 Forms of Anger" – 3:15 #"Bone Jump" – 2:22 #"Dust Shuffle" – 1:54 #"Paleosonic" – 4:25 #"Slow Ice, Old Moon" – 3:25 #"Lesser Heaven" – 3:21 #"Calcium Needles" – 3:25 #"Emerald and Stone" – 2:12 #"Written, Forgotten" – 3:55 #"Late Anthropocene" – 8:09 Bonus track on Japanese edition #
  • "Invisible" – 5:10 iTunes Store bonus track #
  • "Loose Rein" – 3:17 Collector's edition bonus disc #"Surfacing" – 2:19 #"Square Chain" – 2:36 #"Bimini Twist" – 3:13 #"Abandoned Ship" – 3:45 Bonus disc available through
    Rough Trade Rough Trade may refer to: *Rough Trade Records, a record label * Rough Trade (shops), London record stores *Rough Trade (band), a Canadian new wave rock band * "Rough Trade" (''American Dad!''), an episode of ''American Dad!'' *Rough trade (slang), ...
    #"Square Chain" – 2:36 #"Bimini Twist" – 3:13 #"Invisible" – 5:10 ''Seven Sessions on a Milk Sea'' #"Instant Nuclear Family" – 3:02 #"Signal Success" – 3:55 #"Written / Forgotten / Remembered" – 2:30 #"Allen Loop" – 1:16 #"Abdominal Crisis" – 3:55 #"Big Thief Trudge" – 1:27 #"Instant Nuclear Family"(Extended Version) – 7:54


    Personnel

    * Leo Abrahams – guitar, laptop, and guitaret *
    Brian Eno Brian Peter George St John le Baptiste de la Salle Eno (; born Brian Peter George Eno, 15 May 1948) is a British musician, composer, record producer and visual artist best known for his contributions to ambient music and work in rock, pop an ...
     – computers, electronics * Jon Hopkins – piano, keyboards, electronics Additional personnel *Nick Robertson – design,
    art direction Art director is the title for a variety of similar job functions in theater, advertising, marketing, publishing, fashion, film and television, the Internet, and video games. It is the charge of a sole art director to supervise and unify the visi ...
    , photography *Jez Wiles – percussion on "Flint March", "Horse", "2 Forms of Anger", and "Dust Shuffle"


    References


    External links


    ''Small Craft on a Milk Sea'' from Warp RecordsBrian Eno Gets Quizzed on Milk Sea – Eno interviews himself as "Dick Flash" from ''Pork Magazine''
    {{Authority control 2010 albums Brian Eno albums Jon Hopkins albums Leo Abrahams albums Albums produced by Brian Eno Albums produced by Leo Abrahams Warp (record label) albums Collaborative albums Instrumental albums