Ambient 1: Music For Airports - Brian Eno (1978)

ideated from: last week was a lot of discovery, and it was hit-and-miss, if I’m being honest. So this week I’ve queued up known quantities: things I already love and just want to hear again

Eno has made lots of great music that you could call “ambient,” and the genre has advanced and splintered and created all manner of interesting sounds to be to. But these early albums are something that ambient music would sort of grow out of: undemanding but immaculate melodicism.

There’s a stillness and beauty to these pieces that’s hard to put into words. It wasn’t radically new. I just recently listened to a record of Satie piano music that has a lot of similarities from nearly a century earlier. But this is a complete sonic package. Even the echos and overtones are somehow exactly the right choices to soothe and comfort.

It’s one of the most beautiful records I know.