Roger Eno and His Newest Album, "the skies: rarities"

The Sharp Notes with Evan Toth

It’s not always what we say, sometimes it’s more about what we leave out; the silence in between our words can speak volumes. The same can be said of music, particularly the music of Roger Eno who has recently released a companion piece of sorts to his last release titled, The skies, they shift like chords (2023). This newest album is an extension to some of those musical thoughts and is named the skies: rarities. This release also continues his relationship with the Deutsche Grammophon label.

Eno has a long history of creating music, he’s released a number of solo albums, but has also composed for film and other media outlets. Of course, he’s also worked with his brother Brian Eno for many years, beginning with 1983’s Apollo which also featured Daniel Lanois.

As you’ll hear Eno explain, his recent exploration is a sort of artistic pattern of his that more musicians might consider trying out. Instead of releasing an album and moving onto the next idea, Roger continues to find ways in which each of his albums might be expanded, either built upon or deconstructed. In this conversation, Eno shares his process which gives us the opportunity to see the skies - musical and otherwise - from Roger’s vantage point.

Roger’s music might be considered very “serious” to many folks, but - as you’ll find - in our chat, we have a lot of fun.