Ambient music pioneers Brian Eno and conceptual artist Beatie Wolfe recently released their latest album, Liminal, in an unconventional manner: by transmitting it directly into deep space. The project, a culmination of a trilogy including Luminal and Lateral, pushes the boundaries of music distribution and explores the unseen forces that bind the universe.
The Holmdel Horn and the Search for the Invisible
The launch took place at the historic Holmdel Horn Antenna in New Jersey, the very site where astronomer Robert Wilson discovered the cosmic microwave background (CMB) in 1964 – evidence supporting the Big Bang theory. Wilson and his colleague Greg Wright repurposed the 16-ton antenna to transmit Wolfe and Eno’s “dark matter music,” as the artists describe it. The intention is not merely broadcast, but to send a signal into the void, acknowledging the vastness of the universe and the unseen forces that permeate it.
“It’s invoking the invisible that’s all around us, that’s binding everything together,” Wolfe explains. Eno adds, “It’s this idea that the universe is full of stuff that we can’t sense.” The signal, while fading with distance, is strong enough to reach low Earth orbit, though it will be overwhelmed by the CMB as it travels further.
A Conversational Album: Exploring New Sonic Spaces
Liminal itself is an immersive experience, blending lush ambient soundscapes with haunting vocals and unsettling electronic textures. The album moves between moments of percussive urgency, like the track “Procession,” and the droning, robotic atmosphere of “Laundry Room.” Eno highlights the importance of creating entirely new sonic environments, pushing beyond conventional boundaries.
“The biggest thing in music in the last 70 or 80 years is the ability to create new sonic spaces that couldn’t really exist,” Eno says. “You can have reverbs that are a year long…create a space like an infinitely large building.”
The Human Imperfection Behind the Sound
Despite the album’s otherworldly quality, both Eno and Wolfe emphasize the importance of retaining human imperfection in their work. They deliberately avoid the sterile precision of AI-generated music, finding that machine-made art often lacks emotional depth.
“It really mattered that you understand that another human being made these things,” Eno states. “Funnily enough, this is one of the reasons that I think AI doesn’t really work. It’s always really impressive when you see something made by AI…but when you find out it’s a machine that made it, it has a kind of emptiness to it.”
The Pursuit of Pure Exploration
Notably, the artists didn’t create Liminal with an audience in mind. The project was driven by curiosity, a desire to explore uncharted sonic territories, and the sheer joy of experimentation. “The nice thing about this music is we really weren’t thinking about anyone when we were making it,” Wolfe explains.
Eno echoes this sentiment, equating artistic creation with scientific discovery. “Play is part of science just as it’s part of art. All of the scientists I know do what they do because they’re fascinated by it. It’s the same motivation.”
As of now, Liminal has traveled past the moon, spreading outward toward the constellation Corona Borealis, joining the vast expanse of dark matter that permeates the cosmos. The project serves as a reminder that true innovation arises from pure curiosity, pushing beyond the boundaries of what is known – and into the infinite unknown.
