In a Land of Clear Colours

Released in 1979 as a strictly limited edition accompaniment to a book of the same name by Robert Sheckley, 'In a Land of Clear Colours' remains one of the most elusive entries in Brian Eno's discography. Narrated by Peter Sinfield (known for his work with King Crimson), the album features Eno providing a series of 'sound-pictures' that illustrate Sheckley's surrealist science fiction story. Sonically, the album sits between the pastoral minimalism of 'Music for Airports' and the more dissonant, experimental textures found on 'Music for Films'. The production is characterized by heavy tape saturation and a deliberate lack of traditional song structure, favoring long-form drones and brief, evocative vignettes. Because of its origins as a multi-media art piece, the music is inextricably linked to the act of storytelling, making it a unique outlier in Eno's early ambient period. It was eventually given a wider release via the 'Enobox 1' collection, but it retains its reputation as a cult artifact among ambient purists.