Over the past twenty-five years, Michael Brook has forged his own path, fueled in equal parts by scientific curiosity, the thrill of playing guitar, technical aptitude and a fervent interest in music from all over the world. His creative energies and expertise have been tapped over the years by those who recognize Michael as, variously: a record producer; a soundtrack composer; an instrument builder; an inspired collaborator and player; and a solo artist possessed of a unique sensibility.
Michael was born and raised in Toronto, Canada and studied music at York University. In the early 80s he worked as an engineer at Daniel Lanois' studio. He reflects, "From Dan, I got the sense that many things only happen in the moment, as music is being performed or written."
At this time, Michael also met pianist Harold Budd and musical iconoclast Brian Eno. "I used to work a lot with Eno, and I think I learnt quite a bit of my approach to the studio from him... that it's important to stay in touch with a kind of intuitive, emotional sense of direction."
In 1985, Michael's first solo album Hybrid, with contributions from both Eno and Lanois, was released on EG Records to great critical acclaim. That album remains among the ground-breaking works of the mid-80s:
"In a lot of ways, what I do is more oriented around sound than music, and my work is probably simpler than initial impressions might suggest -- I pay a lot of attention to atmospherics."
His second solo album Cobalt Blue (4AD Records,1992) also featured Eno among its larger cast of musicians; Live at the Aquarium (4AD,1993) appeared shortly afterwards, recorded at London Zoo, on the occasion of Cobalt Blue's press launch.
Between his past releases and recent solo disc, RockPaperScissors, Brook has collaborated with a long list of international talent including Pieter Nooten, Mary Margaret O'Hara, The Pogues, Bryan Ferry, Youssou N'Dour, Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, Cheb Khaled, Indian electric mandolin player U. Srinivas and the Armenian duduk flute master Djivan Gasparayan.
"Every time you work with somebody else, you learn something you wish you'd known before. I really don't like working by myself. I get cabin fever..."
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"BellCurve" originated with executive producer Hugo Vereker, a friend and colleague to both Brook and James Hood, whose work with MoodSwings and the Pretenders has been both commercially successful and highly acclaimed. Introducing the two men, the simple idea was that their very different talents and range of influences might combine to make something very special. Michael has always been fascinated by the development, collaboration, and innovation in music, and "we all felt that RockPaperScissors was potentially an interesting source for a further record... less of a remix, more of a reinterpretation." As an exceptional producer, mixer, interpreter and sound innovator in his own right, James set to work.
Hood took the reins, reimagining the RockPaperScissors record as a single piece of music, removing almost all the vocals, exploring rhythm, ambience and genre, to create an entirely new piece based on 7 of the original tracks. Michael then had further input and played over the top of some of the new pieces, as did Julie Rogers, the violinist and string arranger... and "BellCurve" was done.
It is as if Brook walked into the Buddha Bar with the Pink Floyd, "Low" era Bowie, and members of Air and Thievery Corporation as his band... creating a fantastic hybrid of electronica, dub, chillout, instrumental rock, choir and solo guitar... and yet it is still very much a Michael Brook album.
