Brian Eno introduced the ambient music concept in the late 1970s and went on to produce a series of ambient albums by other artists. More adventurous than Muzak, ambient was capable of being heard with pleasure while blending into the atmosphere. One of Eno’s outstanding projects in this field, his 1980 production for an American artist called Laraaji, has been reissued. For Day of Radiance, the classically trained Laraaji employed an instrument of his own device, an electrified autoharp modified into a zither. The resulting music fell between the tinkling shimmer of Javanese gamelan and the repetitive cycles of Steve Reich minimalism. As intended, it can be listened to meaningfully or serve as an exotic backdrop.
