Finding Shore [2017] - Tom Rogerson with Brian Eno

What could these elder statesmen figure do on their latest records in order to still be considered as an on-going concern within the modernity? Well, they could collaborate with those they influenced. No, they shouldn't go all Supernatural – though the latter record is much better than many give that a credit for –, they should be willing to do a duo with some of them Look, Brian Eno remains a gold standard here, but we must be honest – him collaborating with Tom Rogerson shouldn't be seen as a shock. He continues to carry out his modus operandi from the past, he merely calls those he hasn't worked with before now. To be honest, I'm shocked both Rogerson and Eno still haven't made a sequel to their LP, I believe they have more to say.

I said that Brian Eno did some of his best work during the 10's thanks to an easy-going attitude he had within the decade. For instance, Finding Shore, his collaboration with Tom Rogerson that has been already profiled on this blog and that I've mistakenly called Eno's finale for the 10's, locates him in a place he visited with the late Harold Budd on their pieces together, though Mr. Rogerson deploys a different modus operandi on his piano. Then again, Brian Eno also does something he didn't do on these famous Budd discs, because he's actually searching an area between being present and becoming absent. Thus, some pieces on the LP merely hint at him behind the scenes, whereas the others found him in a cooperative mode, where he follows his co-player's inputs to respond with his own.

Finding Shore - Tom Rogerson & Brian Eno

While many musical finales for the previous decade betray the era's troubles, some seem more subtle about that. Brian Eno, for instance, concluded the 10's with a collaboration. Finding Shore, his cooperation with Tom Rogerson, locates him on the grounds he visited thanks to Harold Budd, yet this one doesn't really have a precedent in Eno's opus. Occasionally, you don't even hear the latter's contribution that much, the song in the link could be seen as an case of this option, though I have a clue as to why, i.e. Eno wants to be present, yet he doesn't want to be omnipresent. Therefore, he takes the atmosphere of the period we're still in by providing a hint of him in a couple of tunes without being there, if that makes sense.

‘Idea of Order at Kyson Point’ by Tom Rogerson with Brian Eno, from ‘Finding Shore’