“it’s a slow boiling of the frog.”

You can’t rush art. Mindfulness and spirituality matter. There are times to keep music simple. Be receptive to the vibrations of the world… These are among the things that shape his world view.

Blues lifer Robin Trower on the records, artists and gigs that are of lasting significance to him.

Deep inside his London studio, BRIAN ENO is busy bringing “playful” experimental strategies to the studio graft – as his new collaborative albums with conceptual artist Beatie Wolfe attest. But, over pastries, an uncharacteristically digressive Eno finds time to discuss Scott Walker’s voice, communal living with Harmonia, mid-‘60s ‘happenings’ and his deep enthusiasm to create anew. “I’m sorry to be so shamelessly enthusiastic about my work,” he tells Tom Pinnock

When the Irish band were a folksy blues three-piece, it was Eric Bell who defined Thin Lizzy on their 1971 self-titled debut and early 70s follow-ups, Shades Of A Blue Orphanage and Vagabonds Of The Western World

Away from his day job as The National’s lugubrious frontman, MATT BERNINGER has reached back into his Ohio upbringing for a ruminative new solo record. But behind the childhood tales of gang fights, drowned train cars and Christmas tree farms lurks midlife melancholy. “I’m writing about trying to understand my own fear,” he tells Laura Barton

What’s in a Year: A Countryman’s Tale Through ...