Editing is now the easiest thing on earth to do, and all the things that evolved out of word processing – ‘Oh, let’s put that sentence there, let’s get rid of this’ – have become commonplace in films and music too. – Brian Eno
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 Eno
The problem with fine art is that in most cases people have to make a special excursion to go and look at it: they can’t afford to own it. So it isn’t really part of their life in the way that music can be. – Brian Eno
My kind of composing is more like the work of a gardener. The gardener takes his seeds and scatters them, knowing what he is planting but not quite what will grow where and when – and he won’t necessarily be able to reproduce it again afterwards either. – Brian Eno
Once I started working with generative music in the 1970s, I was flirting with ideas of making a kind of endless music – not like a record that you’d put on, which would play for a while and finish. – Brian Eno
Of course, like anybody I repeat myself endlessly, but I don’t know that I’m doing it, usually. – Brian Eno
My lyrics are generated by various peculiar processes. Very random and similar to automatic writing. – Brian Eno
Control and surrender have to be kept in balance. That’s what surfers do – take control of the situation, then be carried, then take control. In the last few thousand years, we’ve become incredibly adept technically. We’ve treasured the controlling part of ourselves and neglected the surrendering part. – Brian Eno
If you are part of a religion that very strongly insists that you believe then to decide not to do that is quite a big hurdle to jump over. You never forget the thought process you went through. It becomes part of your whole intellectual picture. – Brian Eno
When I went back to England after a year away, the country seemed stuck, dozing in a fairy tale, stifled by the weight of tradition. – Brian Eno
Every collaboration helps you grow. With Bowie, it’s different every time. I know how to create settings, unusual aural environments. That inspires him. He’s very quick. – Brian Eno
Avant-garde music is sort of research music. You’re glad someone’s done it but you don’t necessarily want to listen to it. – Brian Eno
In the wake of the events of 11 September 2001, it now seems clear that the shock of the attacks was exploited in America. – Brian Eno
Most of those melodies are me trying to find out what notes fit, and then hitting ones that don’t fit in a very interesting way. – Brian Eno
Some people are very good at being ‘stars’ and it suits them. I’m grudging about it and I find it annoying. – Brian Eno
Robert Fripp and I will be recording another LP very soon. It should be even more monotonous than the first one! – Brian Eno
Instruments sound interesting, not because of their sound, but because of the relationship a player has with them. Instrumentalists build a rapport with their instruments, which is what you like and respond to. – Brian Eno
I wouldn’t call myself a synaesthete in the sense that Nabokov was. But I’ll talk about a sound as being cold blue or dark brown. For descriptive purposes, yes, I often see colors when I’m listening to music and think, ‘Oh, there’s not enough sort of yellowy stuff in here, or not enough white.’ – Brian Eno
I believe that singing is the key to long life, a good figure, a stable temperament, increased intelligence, new friends, super self-confidence, heightened sexual attractiveness, and a better sense of humor. – Brian Eno
If I had a stock of fabulous sounds I would just always use them. I wouldn’t bother to find new ones. – Brian Eno
My guitar only has five strings ’cause the top one broke and I decided not to put it back on: when I play chords I only play bar chords, and the top one always used to cut me there. – Brian Eno
The philosophical idea that there are no more distances, that we are all just one world, that we are all brothers, is such a drag! I like differences. – Brian Eno
