Posted on: October 1, 2007 Posted by: James McQuiston Comments: 0

During a career that has spanned three decades, Michael Brook has collaborated with some of the most influential icons from the worlds of music, art, film and politics. He has forged a career as producer, sound innovator, inventor, guitarist, composer and solo artist: Brook is a modern day renaissance man. On his fourth solo release, he teams with producer/remixer James Hood (Pretenders, Moodswings) for BellCurve – a radical reinterpretation of last year’s RockPaperScissors, a remix which will appeal to fans of acts from Air to Zero 7, Pink Floyd to Buddha Bar. The album is out digitally October 2, through bigHelium records and Brook’s own Canadian Rational, and it streets October 23.

Wearing more than one hat, as ever, Brook has also composed the original score for writer/director Sean Penn’s latest Paramount film “Into The Wild,” based on Jon Krakauer’s #1 bestseller and in theaters now. Concurrently, an enhanced SoundWave 360 edition of Brook’s score for the Oscar-winning Al Gore documentary “An Inconvenient Truth” will be released via Amazon’s new download service.

During this time, the Grammy®-nominated Brook has also begun recording new material with renowned world musician and composer Djivan Gasparyan, that will be premiered at UCLA’s Royce Hall on Saturday, December 15.

Collaboration has been at the heart of Brook’s career, working with a diversity of international artists such as Brian Eno, Daniel Lanois, Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, Youssou N’Dour, Mary Margaret O’Hara, Bryan Ferry, and The Pogues, to scratch the surface. He invented the infinite guitar, which defined U2’s sound on songs such as “With or Without You”. He has also contributed scores or individual pieces to films such as “Who Killed The Electric Car?” “Heat,” “Albino Alligator,” and “Affliction” and the international touring art installation “Ashes & Snow,” now on its way to Mexico City.

After a thirteen-year hiatus from his solo career, Brook returned in 2006 with RockPaperScissors, which Time Out New York called “magic realism for the ears.” Brook debuted in 1985 with the critically acclaimed Hybrid on EG Records. His 1992 follow-up Cobalt Blue, one of the seminal records of the ambient movement, was released on 4AD, along with the 1993 recording Live at the Aquarium.

During a feature on NPR’s Weekend Edition Sunday, host Liane Hansen aptly described the impact of Brook’s influence: “Michael Brook is one of those forces in the music industry whose name may not be front and center but whose presence is unmistakable.”

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