With Another Day On Earth, Eno returns after long hiatus with a full-length comprised of strange, moody songs fronting as pop pieces but something else just beneath the skin.

From the beautiful opening lift of This with it's single word signature, to the final, slow-build realization of Bone Bomb these tracks are all ambient pieces disguised as more accessible fare. Traces of Eno's tendency toward texture and sliding frames of compositional reference could be found in his earlier pop/progressive rock works, but this feels more like wrapping a thin veneer of external form around vast ambient landscapes within.

Going Unconscious creates sonic fabric from melodic rhythms syncing and unsyncing, with gorgeously accented spoken word work carried aloft. The title track Just Another Day brings in mellow, ambient funk perfect for contemplative head-bobbing and occasional moonwalk. Eno's flat, almost deadpan voice has always been perfectly pitched, but vocal processing has a surprisingly prominent spot in many of these pieces. The heartache of And Then So Clear is pulled directly from your chest by the high, pitch-shifted vox-as-instument. I love his stylistic choice to leave between-phrase breaths intact and unprocessed. Vocal harmonies and multiples are everywhere. A Long Way Down has our globe of blue slowly rotating in space before you. Passing Over fills your head to overflowing built on minimal piano and the dissonance of processed rides.

Bottomliners could be an endlessly flowing track from the Apollo sessions, reworked with chorused voice:

And in the future

new forms of romance

grenade and lamplight

in twilit silence

You can hear it online: Rykodisc has a downloadable medley of the tracks and an interesting interview of Eno by Danny Hillis.