Roger Eno Shares a New Single, Alembic Distillation
Out now, Alembic Distillation is the second track to be unveiled from Without Wind / Without Air, Roger Eno’s forthcoming third solo album for Deutsche Grammophon. It follows on from Forgiveness, which was shared earlier this month, and is one of three pieces for solo piano written and performed by Roger on the new album.
As Eno explains, “An ‘alembic’ was used in alchemy and early scientific processes to make spirits (aqua vitae). The process of distillation therefore separates the ‘spirit’ from the original ‘body’ of that which is being treated. It turns not water into wine but wine into cognac. In this piece I wished to extract the ‘essence’ of a piece – ridding it of any ‘base’ material, flamboyance, excess of decoration, unnecessary movement, etc. to reveal the simple beauty of an ostinato and the clarity of a single lead line.”
Without Wind / Without Air is released digitally and on vinyl on 31 October 2025, with another single, There Was A Ship – a folk ballad sung by Roger’s daughter Cecily Eno – out on 10 October. A limited-edition LP version of the album includes a signed artcard of an abstract image created by Roger that suggests mayflies dancing above water. The mayfly, a symbol for the brevity of life, also features in Cecily’s cover design for the album. A follow-up to 2023’s the skies, they shift like chords (“a delicate, deeply visceral enchantment” – Atwood Magazine), Without Wind / Without Air borrows its title from a lyric by Italian songwriter Pier Luigi Andreoni.
The album includes solo piano pieces and tracks orchestrated for various combinations of clarinet, guitar, bass, strings, synths, percussion and electronics. Soprano Grace Davidson and sisters Cecily and Lotti Eno make guest vocal appearances, with Roger himself singing on The Moon And The Sea. Jonathan Stockhammer conducts the Scoring Berlin strings on three pieces, while Eno’s friend and producer Christian Badzura arranged and plays on several numbers as well as having co-written the opening and closing tracks.
