We are increasingly likely to find ourselves in places with background music. No composers have thought to write for these modern spaces, which represent 30% of our musical experience.
Brian EnoRead
Music in itself carries a whole set of messages which are very, very rich and complex, and the words either serve to exclude certain ones or point up certain others.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Music conveys deep messages that words can either support or detract from.
In this quote, Brian Eno highlights the intricate nature of music as a medium of communication that transcends simple lyrics. He suggests that while words can enhance certain emotions or themes present in music, they can also overshadow or limit the broader, often more complex messages that the music itself imparts, emphasizing the rich tapestry of meaning found in the auditory experience.
Themes
MusicMessagesComplexityMeaningArt
In practice
Example use cases
In a discussion about the impact of music on emotions, this quote can illustrate how vital music is beyond its lyrics.
More from Brian Eno
All quotes →I think that technology is always invented for historical reasons, to solve a historical problem. But they very soon reveal themselves to be capable of doing things that aren't historical that nobody had ever thought of doing before.
Brian EnoRead
When I first started making ambient music, I was setting up systems using synthesizers that generated pulses more or less randomly. The end result is a kind of music that continuously changes. Of course, until computers came along, all I could actually present of that work was a piece of its output.
Brian EnoRead
People do dismiss ambient music, don't they? They call it 'easy listening,' as if to suggest that it should be hard to listen to.
Brian EnoRead
In the future, you won't buy artists' works; you'll buy software that makes original pieces of 'their' works, or that recreates their way of looking at things. You could buy a Shostakovich box, or you could buy a Brahms box. You might want some Shostakovich slow-movement-like music to be generated. So then you use that box.
Brian EnoRead
Ambient music must be as ignorable as it is interesting.
Brian EnoRead
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