Manafonistas

An unlikely trinity of musical idols, except if you’re Timo Andres. The 27-year-old American composer and pianist weaves all of their DNA into his new album, Home Stretch, and the results provide thought-provoking glimpses into how the past and the present merge in classical music today. Andres terms Paraphrase on Themes of Brian Eno „a 19th-century style ‚orchestral paraphrase‘ on the subject of Eno’s music.“ The result is suffused with dreamy sweetness, but it’s not without its textural quirks, like the steel pans Andres introduces into the mix.

Already an influential force in popular music history, Brian Eno is increasingly gaining recognition from classical composers. As Andres writes, Eno is a composer with „two quite distinct sides: as an innovator who works in ambient and collage music, and as a quirky and crafty pop songwriter. It’s all interesting, but the really amazing things happen when these musical personalities overlap and wear away each other’s surfaces.“ In Paraphrase on Themes of Brian Eno, Andres focuses on Eno’s albums Before and After Science and Another Green World.

Timothy Andres: Paraphrase on Themes of Brian Eno

Walking the street with her naked feet,
So full of rhythm but I can’t find the beat.
Snapping her heels, clicking her toes,
Everybody knows just where she goes.

Fear, Fear, she’s the mother of Violence,
Making me tense to watch the way she breed.
Fear, she’s the mother of Violence,
You know self-defense is all you need.
It’s getting hard to breathe,
It’s getting so hard to believe,
To believe in anything at all.

Mouth all dry, eyes bloodshot,
Data stored on a microdot.
Kicking the cloud with my moccasin shoes,
TV dinner, TV news.

Fear, Fear, she’s the mother of Violence …

The only way you know she’s there
Is the subtle flavor in the air.
Getting hard to breathe,
Getting hard to believe in anything at all
But Fear.

(Did you recognize it? The lyrics of Peter Gabriel’s „Mother of Violence“. Eno sings this, on a cover album devouted to the songs of  PG, ready for release in September)