Small Craft on a Milk Sea
Encyclopedia
Small Craft on a Milk Sea is a 2010 album by British musician
and record producer
Brian Eno
. The album—his debut with Warp—was released in Japan on 19 October 2010, in the United States on 2 November, and the United Kingdom on 15 November. The album was recorded with collaborators Jon Hopkins
and Leo Abrahams
in 2009 and 2010 and will be released in several formats, including Compact Disc
; digital download; a box set featuring the album on Compact Disc, vinyl, and download, a bonus CD with four extra tracks, and a lithograph by Eno; and another box set with all of the previous media and a 12" square silkscreen print by Eno and a copper plate.
on the Songs of David Byrne and Brian Eno Tour
to promote Everything That Happens Will Happen Today
. The trio also entered the studio in April 2010, to record music that was rejected from the film soundtrack to The Lovely Bones
and five of those tracks ended up on Small Craft on a Milk Sea. The music recorded for this album was mostly improvised and inspired by the sound of soundtrack album
s and film score
s; some of the songs were composed by choosing random chords
played for arbitrary intervals with improvised electronic parts on top of the melody and then edited together to make a proper song. When the music was recorded for the album, Eno sequenced it to create a "macro-composition" that contains themes that run throughout the album.
News broke of the proposed Eno album in July 2010; the following month, Abrahams prematurely leaked details of the album, including the fact that Eno had signed to Warp to release the project. On 30 September 2010, Eno released the track "2 Forms of Anger" for free streaming on the Internet to promote the album and followed this with "Horse" on 15 October. On the 18th, "Emerald and Stone" was made available for previewing.
A new piece will be released each week for seven weeks, each with a unique partner website from a different nation. The first to go live were "Instant Nuclear Family" with Japan's Rockin'On and "Signal Success" with The New York Times
.
The track listing for the seven sessions can be found below.
, Leo Abrahams
and Jon Hopkins
.
Bonus track on Japanese edition
iTunes Store
bonus track
Collector's edition bonus disc
Bonus disc available through Rough Trade
Seven Sessions on a Milk Sea
Additional personnel
Musician
A musician is an artist who plays a musical instrument. It may or may not be the person's profession. Musicians can be classified by their roles in performing music and writing music.Also....* A person who makes music a profession....
and record producer
Record producer
A record producer is an individual working within the music industry, whose job is to oversee and manage the recording of an artist's music...
Brian Eno
Brian Eno
Brian Peter George St. John le Baptiste de la Salle Eno , commonly known as Brian Eno or simply as Eno , is an English musician, composer, record producer, singer and visual artist, known as one of the principal innovators of ambient music.Eno studied at Colchester Institute art school in Essex,...
. The album—his debut with Warp—was released in Japan on 19 October 2010, in the United States on 2 November, and the United Kingdom on 15 November. The album was recorded with collaborators Jon Hopkins
Jon Hopkins
Jon Hopkins is a London-based producer and musician who writes and performs his own melodic electronica and dance music. After starting his career performing keyboard for Imogen Heap, he's produced or contributed to albums by Brian Eno, Coldplay, David Holmes, and others...
and Leo Abrahams
Leo Abrahams
Leo Abrahams is a British musician, composer, and producer. He has collaborated with a multitude of professional musicians, including Brian Eno, Imogen Heap, Jarvis Cocker, Carl Barât, and Paul Simon. After attending the Royal Academy of Music in England, he started his musical career by touring as...
in 2009 and 2010 and will be released in several formats, including Compact Disc
Compact Disc
The Compact Disc is an optical disc used to store digital data. It was originally developed to store and playback sound recordings exclusively, but later expanded to encompass data storage , write-once audio and data storage , rewritable media , Video Compact Discs , Super Video Compact Discs ,...
; digital download; a box set featuring the album on Compact Disc, vinyl, and download, a bonus CD with four extra tracks, and a lithograph by Eno; and another box set with all of the previous media and a 12" square silkscreen print by Eno and a copper plate.
Recording
Small Craft on a Milk Sea was recorded in collaboration with Abrahams and Hopkins in 2009 and 2010. Some sessions were recorded in September 2009, while Abrahams recorded his own album and performed with David ByrneDavid Byrne
David Byrne may refer to:*David Byrne , musician and former Talking Heads frontman**David Byrne , his eponymous album*David Byrne , Irish footballer*David Byrne , English footballer...
on the Songs of David Byrne and Brian Eno Tour
Songs of David Byrne and Brian Eno Tour
The Songs of David Byrne and Brian Eno Tour is a 2008–2009 promotional concert tour of music co-written by David Byrne and Brian Eno with performances by Byrne...
to promote Everything That Happens Will Happen Today
Everything That Happens Will Happen Today
Everything That Happens Will Happen Today is the second album made in collaboration between David Byrne and Brian Eno, released on August 18, 2008, by Todo Mundo. The album explores themes of humanity versus technology and optimism in spite of bleak circumstance through the blending of electronic...
. The trio also entered the studio in April 2010, to record music that was rejected from the film soundtrack to The Lovely Bones
The Lovely Bones
The Lovely Bones is a 2002 novel by Alice Sebold. It is the story of a teenage girl who, after being raped and murdered, watches from her personal Heaven as her family and friends struggle to move on with their lives while she comes to terms with her own death. The novel received much critical...
and five of those tracks ended up on Small Craft on a Milk Sea. The music recorded for this album was mostly improvised and inspired by the sound of soundtrack album
Soundtrack album
A soundtrack album is any album that incorporates music directly recorded from the soundtrack of a particular feature film or television program. In some cases, not all the tracks from the movie are included in the album; however there are rare cases of songs in the trailers that do not appear in...
s and film score
Film score
A film score is original music written specifically to accompany a film, forming part of the film's soundtrack, which also usually includes dialogue and sound effects...
s; some of the songs were composed by choosing random chords
Chord (music)
A chord in music is any harmonic set of two–three or more notes that is heard as if sounding simultaneously. These need not actually be played together: arpeggios and broken chords may for many practical and theoretical purposes be understood as chords...
played for arbitrary intervals with improvised electronic parts on top of the melody and then edited together to make a proper song. When the music was recorded for the album, Eno sequenced it to create a "macro-composition" that contains themes that run throughout the album.
News broke of the proposed Eno album in July 2010; the following month, Abrahams prematurely leaked details of the album, including the fact that Eno had signed to Warp to release the project. On 30 September 2010, Eno released the track "2 Forms of Anger" for free streaming on the Internet to promote the album and followed this with "Horse" on 15 October. On the 18th, "Emerald and Stone" was made available for previewing.
Seven Sessions on a Milk Sea
Abrahams, Eno, and Hopkins have also recorded a series of performance films featuring brand new improvised compositions to promote the album.A new piece will be released each week for seven weeks, each with a unique partner website from a different nation. The first to go live were "Instant Nuclear Family" with Japan's Rockin'On and "Signal Success" with The New York Times
The New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
.
The track listing for the seven sessions can be found below.
Reception
Track listing
All compositions by Brian EnoBrian Eno
Brian Peter George St. John le Baptiste de la Salle Eno , commonly known as Brian Eno or simply as Eno , is an English musician, composer, record producer, singer and visual artist, known as one of the principal innovators of ambient music.Eno studied at Colchester Institute art school in Essex,...
, Leo Abrahams
Leo Abrahams
Leo Abrahams is a British musician, composer, and producer. He has collaborated with a multitude of professional musicians, including Brian Eno, Imogen Heap, Jarvis Cocker, Carl Barât, and Paul Simon. After attending the Royal Academy of Music in England, he started his musical career by touring as...
and Jon Hopkins
Jon Hopkins
Jon Hopkins is a London-based producer and musician who writes and performs his own melodic electronica and dance music. After starting his career performing keyboard for Imogen Heap, he's produced or contributed to albums by Brian Eno, Coldplay, David Holmes, and others...
.
- "Emerald and Lime" – 3:02
- "Complex Heaven" – 3:05
- "Small Craft on a Milk Sea" – 1:49
- "Flint March" – 1:56
- "Horse" – 3:02
- "2 Forms of Anger" – 3:15
- "Bone Jump" – 2:22
- "Dust Shuffle" – 1:54
- "Paleosonic" – 4:25
- "Slow Ice, Old Moon" – 3:25
- "Lesser Heaven" – 3:21
- "Calcium Needles" – 3:25
- "Emerald and Stone" – 2:12
- "Written, Forgotten" – 3:55
- "Late Anthropocene" – 8:09
Bonus track on Japanese edition
- "Invisible" – 5:10
iTunes Store
ITunes Store
The iTunes Store is a software-based online digital media store operated by Apple. Opening as the iTunes Music Store on April 28, 2003, with over 200,000 items to purchase, it is, as of April 2008, the number-one music vendor in the United States...
bonus track
- "Loose Rein" – 3:17
Collector's edition bonus disc
- "Surfacing" – 2:19
- "Square Chain" – 2:36
- "Bimini Twist" – 3:13
- "Abandoned Ship" – 3:45
Bonus disc available through Rough Trade
- "Square Chain" – 2:36
- "Bimini Twist" – 3:13
- "Invisible" – 5:10
Seven Sessions on a Milk Sea
- "Instant Nuclear Family" – 3:02
- "Signal Success" – 3:55
- "Written / Forgotten / Remembered" – 2:30
- "Allen Loop" – 1:16
- "Abdominal Crisis" – 3:55
- "Big Thief Trudge" – 1:27
- "Instant Nuclear Family"(Extended Version) – 7:54
Personnel
- Leo AbrahamsLeo AbrahamsLeo Abrahams is a British musician, composer, and producer. He has collaborated with a multitude of professional musicians, including Brian Eno, Imogen Heap, Jarvis Cocker, Carl Barât, and Paul Simon. After attending the Royal Academy of Music in England, he started his musical career by touring as...
– guitarGuitarThe guitar is a plucked string instrument, usually played with fingers or a pick. The guitar consists of a body with a rigid neck to which the strings, generally six in number, are attached. Guitars are traditionally constructed of various woods and strung with animal gut or, more recently, with...
, laptop, and guitaretGuitaretThe Guitaret is an electric lamellophone made by Hohner and invented by Ernst Zacharias, in 1963. Zacharias also invented similar instruments like the Pianet, Cembalet and the Clavinet.... - Brian EnoBrian EnoBrian Peter George St. John le Baptiste de la Salle Eno , commonly known as Brian Eno or simply as Eno , is an English musician, composer, record producer, singer and visual artist, known as one of the principal innovators of ambient music.Eno studied at Colchester Institute art school in Essex,...
– computers, electronics - Jon HopkinsJon HopkinsJon Hopkins is a London-based producer and musician who writes and performs his own melodic electronica and dance music. After starting his career performing keyboard for Imogen Heap, he's produced or contributed to albums by Brian Eno, Coldplay, David Holmes, and others...
– pianoPianoThe piano is a musical instrument played by means of a keyboard. It is one of the most popular instruments in the world. Widely used in classical and jazz music for solo performances, ensemble use, chamber music and accompaniment, the piano is also very popular as an aid to composing and rehearsal...
, keyboardsKeyboard instrumentA keyboard instrument is a musical instrument which is played using a musical keyboard. The most common of these is the piano. Other widely used keyboard instruments include organs of various types as well as other mechanical, electromechanical and electronic instruments...
, electronics
Additional personnel
- Tim Eves – photography
- Full Stop – photography
- Nick Robertson – design, art direction, photography
- Nick Turner – photography
- Jez Wiles – percussionPercussion instrumentA percussion instrument is any object which produces a sound when hit with an implement or when it is shaken, rubbed, scraped, or otherwise acted upon in a way that sets the object into vibration...
on "Flint March", "Horse", "2 Forms of Anger", and "Dust Shuffle"