Earlier today, Brian Eno surprised fans by dropping his new ambient/electronic record Aurum exclusively on Apple Music. The new album makes use of Apple Music's newest feature, Spatial Audio, according to Rolling Stone. Partnering with Apple Music and Dolby Atmos, the music is designed to deliver surround sound and a 3D listening experience.

Aurum is Eno's first solo record since the 2022 release of ForeverAndEverNoMore. (In 2023, Eno collaborated with Fred Again.. for Secret Life, and his other previous releases were either film scores and/or soundtracks or collaborative pieces). His new LP spans one hour and 19 minutes, with several tracks lasting over ten minutes.

The cover art and tracklist for Aurum can be seen below:

Aurum Tracklist:

1. "Fragmented Film"
2. "Gorgeous Night"
3. "The Dawn of Everything"
4. "The Understory"
5. "Lamented Jazz"
6. "Material World"
7. "Lonely Semi-Jazz"
8. "North Side"
9. "Cascade"
10. "Friendly Reactor Near Menacing Forest"
11. "Dark Harbour"

Eno sat down for an exclusive interview with Apple Music's Zane Lowe to discuss his newest LP, as well as his latest book What Art Does and its concerns about the increasing use of artificial intelligence (AI) in the music industry.

He expressed concern over the corporations' control over AI, and that their use of the technology might not be in the best interest of innovating art. Social media "has been a catastrophe and mildly useful at the same time," he added. "It’s possible for both things to coexist," he said, "but I think in terms of what it’s done to societies, it’s been a catastrophe. What it’s done to politics has been completely toxic.” The current debate around AI "could have been avoided," he explained, "if it had started out in a not-for profit regime...Maximized engagement wouldn't have been the headline of the whole project."

Apple, the corporation behind the music platform Eno partnered with, recently launched Apple Intelligence, a built-in, all-encompassing AI tool that assists with image and text generation, reads and summarizes long text messages and emails, and supposedly integrates personal data training into an improved Siri (still in development.) The new feature came with mixed results, with some critics saying that the push for AI in products has stifled true innovation.

Watch the full interview with Zane Lowe below: