The unconventional and experimental musician Brian Eno and the most in-vogue DJ around Fred Again.. have announced a surprise collaborative album that will be released this Friday 5th May.
it is the most beautiful album of 2023
— Four Tet (@FourTet) May 2, 2023
The duo kept the LP under wraps until yesterday (3rd May) when electronic musician Four Tet comically revealed on Instagram with a faraway image of a post-it note that the album, Secret Life, would be released on his label Text Records. According to Kieran Hebden (aka Four Tet) “it is the most beautiful album of 2023”. The album will be available on physical release as CDs and vinyl as Fred showcased on his Instagram.
The musicians revealed on social media that “for the last couple of weeks” a radio station called secretlife.fm has been playing “different versions” of the album at 10 pm BST each evening. The 11-track final and main version of the ambient album debuted on NTS Radio last night (3rd May).
Fred Again.. took to Instagram to express his excitement over the project and his love for Eno writing: “I absolutely love Brian. So much. Ive been so lucky to have him as my friend and mentor since I was 16. And the older I get the more I appreciate how rare and wonderful his mind is.” He continued to say: “Making this was I think the most therapeutic experience ive had in music. ill explain a bit more why when I understand it a bit better I think?”.
In an interview with Zane Lowe for Apple Music, Eno reciprocated Fred’s praises saying, “I think of Fred as my mentor as well in that I Iearned so much about contemporary music from watching him work. When I first worked with Fred I could see he was brilliant. It was very clear he’s a very sensitive and good artist. But I didn’t really understand what he was doing. It took me quite a while to think, ‘Oh my gosh, this is really a new idea about how you can make music.’”
Watch the full interview below:
Both artists dropped records in October last year, Fred Again.. releasing the future garage album Actual Life 3 (January 1 – September 9 2022) and Brian Eno releasing the ambient pop album FOREVERANDEVERNOMORE.
Fred Again.., Four Tet, and Skrillex teamed up to close out Coachella weekend two last month replacing Frank Ocean as headliners. Ocean cancelled his performance after sustaining injuries in his left leg.
