“Who Are We,” the new song from Brian Eno is out now—you can check it out below. The track is the second single taken from Eno’s forthcoming album Forever Voiceless set for release April 22 on Record Store Day and is the instrumental compliment to “Icarus Or Blériot,” the third track on Eno’s acclaimed 2022 song-based album Foreverandevernomore.
Shop the best of Brian Eno’s discography on vinyl and more.
The original track references the Greek mythological figure Icarus, who flew too close to the sun, and Louis Blériot, the French aviator who made the first successful flight across the English Channel in 1909. Without Eno’s voice, “Who Are We” puts the emphasis is on a pulsing, skittish swell that sometimes threatens to overwhelm itself, like a soundtrack to a doomed science fiction film. It is an apt reflection of the album’s theme of climate emergency.
Both versions will be available together as a Digital Deluxe Album on April 21. The instrumental versions will be available on exclusive vinyl for Record Store Day 2023 as Forever Voiceless on April 22.
Foreverandevernomore has received widespread critical acclaim. The New York Times said “Brian Eno has been involved in so many varied and significant musical adventures that to call him a Zelig-like figure — which is often done — is to risk understating his reach and importance. The English musician and ideas man helped birth glam and art rock as a member of Roxy Music. He had a strong hand in iconic works by David Bowie, Talking Heads, U2 and Coldplay. Across a series of his own influential albums he pretty much invented ambient music. Eno’s clutch of nonambient solo albums are by turns nervy, catchy, enigmatic and moving. And so he has gone, fruitfully hither and yon, up to his latest, this fall’s FOREVERANDEVERNOMORE.”
Brian Eno will also be honored by the Venice Biennale Music section this year. The legendary songwriter, producer, and composer will receive the Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement.
The artist will receive the award for his “research into the quality, beauty and diffusion of digital sound and for his conception of the acoustic space as a compositional instrument,” according to a press release. Eno will receive the honor at a ceremony on October 22 at the festival, where he will also take part in a conversation with music critic Tom Service.
