Brian Eno to relaunch Opal Records with reissue of two of lost albums

The label will be returning three decades after Eno first launched it in 1988 to distribute experimental, ambient and non-mainstream music that aligned with his own sound. Among the artists who released albums on the label were Eno's brother Roger, John Cale, and more.

Marking the return of the label, Eno will be reissuing his 2001 album Drawn From Life, made in collaboration with J. Peter Schwalm, and his 2005 album Another Day on Earth — both of which have been unavailable outside of Japan for nearly twenty years. The reissues will be available across all formats.

Eno has also shared two previously unreleased live videos, including a performance of "Caught Between" from Another Day on Earth at at Coliseu do Porto, Porto Festival, 16 June 2001, and "Persis" from Drawn From Life at Naeba Ski Resort, Fuji Rock Festival, 29 July 2001.

“If someone asks me what the Opal artists have in common I’m hard pressed to find a simple answer," Eno said of the label artists back in 1988. "I suppose I could say that each is distinctive, not only from each other, but also from the various mainstreams of modern music: it is a label for outsiders."

"Such a description might appear to condemn to permanent obscurity the artists to whom it is applied," he continues. "But popular music has always drawn its strength and richness both from the centre - from the Beatles, for example - and from the edges - like the Velvet Underground. And sometimes the tables suddenly turn and what was on the outside shows up very close to the centre.”

Drawn From Life artwork

Drawn From Life tracklist

"From This Moment"
"Persis"
"Like Pictures Part #1"
"Like Pictures Part #2"
"Night Traffic"
"Rising Dust"
"Intenser"
"More Dust"
"Bloom"
"Two Voices"
"Bloom (Instrumental)"

Another Day on Earth artwork

Another Day on Earth tracklist

"This"
"And Then So Clear"
"A Long Way Down"
"Going Unconscious"
"Caught Between"
"Passing Over"
"How Many Worlds"
"Bottomliners"
"Just Another Day"
"Under"
"Bone Bomb"
"The Demon of The Mines"