“The Dance №3” by Brian Eno and Laraaji
Brian Eno’s classic “1/1” from Music for Airports was the first piece of ambient music I heard that I really liked, but I didn’t really “get” it when I discovered it in high school and I forgot about it pretty quickly after first hearing it. I wouldn’t do any serious research on ambient music again until a few years later when I listened to Brian Eno’s Ambient series in its entirety in an attempt to distract myself with relaxing music while dealing with a nasty flu. I really enjoyed listening to Music for Airports and The Plateaux of Mirror, but listening to Day of Radiance for the first time was an unexpectedly powerful experience for me. Listening to the first two tracks alone was enough to inspire a change of heart on my previously unenthusiastic feelings toward ambient music, but listening to “The Dance №3” turned out to be one of a handful of especially moving musical experiences in my life that forced me to re-think whatever I thought I knew about what music could or should be.
There’s a mysterious, otherworldly quality to this track that sucks me in and demands my undivided attention every time I revisit it. The combination of Laraaji’s psychedelic zither playing and Eno’s unrivaled ability to manipulate sound with studio wizardry makes for a listening experience that I’d describe as a sonic circus. Lush, cascading soundscapes produced by instruments I can’t even identify are treated with delays, reverbs and whatever other tricks Eno’s got up his sleeve to create a labyrinth of sound that I can’t even begin to imagine trying to replicate. This track is a pretty humbling reminder of how narrow and biased my own understanding of music still is. Whenever I get “bored” with music, or think I’ve “heard it all”, I just put on this track and revel in my complete failure to comprehend anything I’m hearing. I never thought that I’d ever find meditation music particularly interesting, let alone inspiring. However, I’d even go as far as saying that “The Dance №3” is easily one of my favorite and most treasured recordings of all time.
