Brian Eno and Beatie Wolfe have announced that they are releasing two new albums together this summer. Luminal and Lateral are both out June 6th via Verve Records, and the duo has shared the two albums’ respective lead singles. Listen to “Suddenly” and “Big Empty Country (Edit)” below.
Eno and Wolfe met in 2022 during a scheduled conversation at SXSW titled Art & Climate, in which they discussed the intersection of art and the ongoing climate crisis. They reconnected later in London, where they were both displaying their art at separate galleries in the city.
Luminal appears to feature 11 distinct tracks, while Lateral is split into eight ambient movements, each titled “Big Empty Country.” In a joint statement, Eno and Wolfe revealed a list of words from other languages that defined their process of working together.
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“Music is about making feelings happen… There are many beautiful words for such feelings in other languages and cultures — words that don’t exist in English,” they said. “By giving a feeling a name, we make that feeling more likely to be felt, more tangible.” Some of those words include the Italian commuovere (“the experience of being moved”) and the Arabic term ya’aburnee (“not wanting to live in a world without someone”).
Wolfe is known for her visual art and focus on the environment; for example, she premiered a work at a Nobel Prize Summit, which conceptualized 800,000 years of CO2 data collected by NASA. She also created the first bioplastic record with R.E.M.’s Michael Stipe. Eno and Wolfe’s two collaborations will also be printed on eco-friendly vinyl. Pre-orders for both albums are ongoing.
In other news, Eno’s Windows 95 reboot chime was recently inducted into the Library of Congress’ National Recording Registry alongside music by Tracy Chapman, Amy Winehouse, and more. Back in 2024, a documentary on the Roxy Music founder and ambient genre pioneer, simply titled Eno, was released.
Check out the album art and tracklists for Brian Eno and Beatie Wolfe’s Luminal and Lateral below.
Luminal Artwork:
Luminal Tracklist:
01. Milky Sleep
02. Hopelessly at Ease
03. My Lovely Days
04. Play On
05. Shhh
06. Suddenly
07. A Ceiling and a Lifeboat
08. And Live Again
09. Breath March
10. Never Was It Now
11. What We Are
Lateral Artwork:
Lateral Digital Tracklist:
01. Big Empty Country Pt. I
02. Big Empty Country Pt. II
03. Big Empty Country Pt. III
04. Big Empty Country Pt. IV
05. Big Empty Country Pt. V
06. Big Empty Country Pt. VI
07. Big Empty Country Pt. VII
08. Big Empty Country Pt. VIII
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