“The Big Ship” was arguably the finest, most elegiac and readily emotional track off of Another Green World.
Eno’s epic “The Big Ship” showed up in two 2015 Sundance darlings, literally two days apart. “The Big Ship” Tie: Me and Earl and the Dying Girl (2015) and The End of the Tour (2015) The song doesn’t play as much as it drips, drones, and slowly uncoils itself, adding an eerie quality to Leo’s odyssey through the bowels of a lonely asylum. The song’s a patient, cyclical piece and arguably a strong audio metaphor for Shutter Island’s dead ends and elongated journey. The track was used twice, faintly, but it’s so undeniably Eno in its spacey, near existential style. Long-term Scorsese bud and former Band frontman Robbie Robertson served as music supervisor and assembled a moody mélange consisting of John Adam, Gyorgy Ligeti, and sure enough, Brian Eno.Įno’s “Lizard Point” from Ambient 4 / On Land gave Shutter Island a moody neo-noir vibe. The 2010 film was an ill fit for the star and the punk director, but at the very least, the thing had a gothic castle of gloomy tunes that certainly helped. Before The Revenant, this was Leo’s apex of agony porn, complete with dead wife clichés and lead plot points like lobotomies. A more upfront title would have been, Red Herrings! The Movie. If we’re being real here, Shutter Island is pretty much one of Martin Scorsese’s lamest efforts. The track is used as reinforcement for main character Carol White’s (Julianne Moore) emotional landscape, and it’s divine. Good to see Eno’s music getting used exactly as he intended.īonus: It needs to be mentioned that “Slow Water” was used again in 1995’s from Todd Haynes. His analogue experimentation on Music for Films proved fruitful for years to come, appearing in several Jarman films, the Breathless remake, and John Woo’s A Better Tomorrow, among many other films. Eno was playing, imagining things with the album. The music didn’t elicit direct emotional cues, so much as explored the world of sounds possible within a film. The album had no orchestra, no traditional themes, and sounded at the time decidedly anti-cinematic. One can only imagine directors scratching their heads at the elongated and seemingly aimless album. Originally concocted as a limited-edition LP in ’76, Eno sent the album to film directors. 1978’s Music for Films was a masterstroke on his part. Eno absolutely wanted to get into the biz. While one can easily argue that his music was ready-made for movies, it’s not just because of the sounds and style. His music often has a way of doing that.Įno served as Jubilee’s composer, but the film utilizes existing Eno music from Music for Films. Eno’s music bonds Jarman’s unclear motivations very early, so while it may take viewers a moment to understand what the hell the film’s getting at, at least Eno becomes a through-line. Punk visuals and Shakespearean pageantry collide in Jubilee, and it rides the line between absurdist trash and baffling mystery, but Eno’s elegant, rueful “Slow Water” prepares viewers right at the start for what will be an unforgettable, episodic ride. In a word, the film’s weird, but in that special, experimental, “only in the ‘70s” way. “Slow Water” opens Derek Jarman’s cult classic about Queen Elizabeth I time traveling to 1970s London and experiencing all sorts of curious things. Here we have the very first usage of Brian Eno’s music in a motion picture. Besides, the guy did release several albums under the title of Music for Films for goodness sake, how was Eno not going to find his way to the silver screen? Today, we’re going to reflect (somberly, of course, with a soft pillow in a quiet room if possible) on some of the finest uses of Eno’s music in the movies. A sonic, ethereal, peaceful, relaxing, chilled-out, becalming, good-vibe-inducing sort of heaven. In that spirit, Eno and films were always going to be a match made in heaven. Eno’s career has been defined by his glorious glam rock, his beauteous digital techniques and tones, and his collaborations with great artists like David Byrne and U2 among many others. Simply put, he is an experimental icon in the world of music - an avant auteur defined by his idiosyncratic interests and involvements. Whether you know him as the godfather of electronica, Roxy Music and Bowie’s secret weapon, or that really cool beep boop guy with the cats, there is only one Brian Eno.
We’re revisiting in celebration of a slew of Brian Eno’s best work getting re-released on vinyl this Friday. This article originally ran in April 2016.
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