Pitchfork

When we talk about Brian Eno, we like to focus on all the cool stuff he's done: Roxy Music, Another Green World, Music for Airports, Talking Heads, Bowie, My Life in the Bush of Ghosts, etc. It's easy to forget that the legendary sound scientist has spent plenty of time hanging out with People Your Mom Likes (U2, Coldplay, Peter Gabriel, Joseph Arthur, etc.).

Mom will be happy to learn that Eno has spent the last few years working under the radar with Paul Simon, according to Billboard.com. Surprise, the album that is the fruits of their labor, is now ready for the public ear, is slated for a May 9 North American release via Warner Bros., and a May 8 release for the rest of the world.

Surprise features guest appearances by guitarist Bill Frisell, drummer Steve Gadd, and pianist Herbie Hancock. When perusing the tracklist, note the inclusion of Simon's "Father and Daughter", which appeared in The Wild Thornberrys Movie and was nominated for an Academy Award.

Surprise:

01 How Can You Live in the Northeast
02 Everything About It Is a Love Song
03 Outrageous
04 Sure Don't Feel Like Love
05 Wartime Prayers
06 Beautiful
07 I Don't Believe
08 Another Galaxy
09 Once Upon a Time There Was an Ocean
10 That's Me
11 Father and Daughter

In slightly cooler Eno news, the man will appear on BBC2's "The Culture Show" on April 6 to talk about "77 Million Paintings", his audio-video installation at Japan's Laforet Museum. Mark Alberding, a contributor to the authoritative Eno fansite EnoWeb.co.uk, described the project, writing, "There are three interconnected rooms, each containing different configurations of screens displaying images generated by the 77 Million program with soundtracks that could fairly be described as 'typical Eno installation music'. The first room has subdued lighting sufficient to view a few cibachrome prints, presumably printed from the electronic artwork, interspersed amongst the variously sized screens. The second room is darker, has more screens and a very large video projection screen showing the images. The third room is completely dark and has a wall of different sized screens arranged in a pyramid shape and set above a mirrored floor. This room has benches so you can sit down and watch the images unfold, which they do v-e-r-y s-l-o-w-l-y."

Ah, just another day in the life of a man who answers to no one.

A limited edition CD is available at the museum, as well as a computer program companion for "77 Million Pantings". Eno Web reports the tracklisting for the CD as:

01 Never Stomp
02 System Piano
03 Bonk 12
04 Luxor Night Car
05 Targa Summer
06 Cold
07 Little Slicer
08 Surf Birds
09 Targa

Oh, and those "Eno back with Roxy Music" rumors? Bullshit, says Eno Web. "All that happened was that Brian popped in to visit the members of the group when they were in the studio. Hearing of this, some journalist somewhere decided that it is a truth universally acknowledged that a solo artist in possession of a fine career must be in want of tinsel jackets, peacock feathers, ego clashes, laundry ruminations and everything else that goes with rejoining a band he left 33 years ago. Great oak false rumours from tiny fact acorns grow."