Just three weeks after releasing their first album together, Brian Eno and Underworld's Karl Hyde are already readying their next one. High Life will be released on 1 July, with a vinyl edition to follow.
"When Someday World was finished I felt like we were still on a roll and I wasn't ready to stop working and get into 'promotional mode' for that record," Eno explained in a press release. "So I suggested we immediately start on another album, a different one, where we extended some of the ideas we'd started, and attempted some of the ideas we hadn't."
Eno's not exaggerating about how quickly this came about: their Someday World project was released on 5 May, entering the UK album chart on 17 May at No 46. High Life was finished so quickly that Warp Records won't have the vinyl version ready until almost two months after the digital and CD release: they claim the hold-up is entirely due to "vinyl production times".
The new album uses a more "stripped down set of equipment" than its predecessor, Hyde said. "I was very keen for Brian to live process my guitar playing so that we would be effecting one another's performance, bouncing off each other, inspiring new combinations of polyrhythms."
The new CD includes just six songs, while the vinyl edition features eight tracks split over two LPs, with a double gatefold sleeve. It's allegedly influenced by "the polyrhythmic music of Fela Kuti and funk" and "the repetitive minimalism of composers like Steve Reich and Philip Glass".
Hyde has released eight albums as a member of Underworld, most recently 2010's Barking. He put out his solo debut last year. Eno is much more prolific, with dozens of records to his name. His latest solo release was 2012's Lux.
