New Wax Wednesday

In our seemingly endlessly perpetual multitasking modern world, sometimes it’s worth just taking a beat to slow everything down. Take it from someone who forcibly gets up from his Eames listening chair to enforce a moment (or five) of what I call “zen resetting” at least once a day. (Try it, and you’ll see what I mean. It works, I tell ya!)

Something that also helps with this kind of internal/external reset is music, sweet music. We all have our “comfort LPs” that we turn to in order to reset the mood and tone whenever it’s warranted. Ambient music pioneer Brian Eno must have been reading my mind, because his latest collaboration with Dutch author/activist Bette A. is the literal aural elixir for what I’ve been talking about here. The result of their multimedia mindmeld, 2 Slow Stories, is a two-sided, two-song companion to Bette A.’s collection of short stories dubbed (naturally) Slow Stories. Both the LP and the tome are coming out in an extremely limited-edition bundle via Unnamed Press on March 2, 2026.

Here’s the rub. The LP/book bundle is limited to 444 copies, and it contains a white-vinyl LP with the recordings of two stories from the book, as read by Bette A. and set to Eno’s music; Slow Stories in hardcover (154pgs); and a “unique” (their word) 20x20cm numbered hand-painted panel, signed by both artists. Said unique presentation renders each individual copy a one-of-a-kind collector’s edition. The $444 SRP matches the number of bundled copies available, and it can be preordered here. Yes, that SRP is admittedly steep, but the artists’ proceeds are all going directly to a pair of noteworthy charities. (Details about those charities, with direct links to them both, follow at the end of this post.)

Update, 02.26.2026: I asked the PR team if Bette or Brian could provide us with some tech stats about the recording process and the LP pressing, and this is Bette’s exclusive response: “Brian and I recorded my voice in his studio using a Rode NT1 microphone. We tried several stories, and found that the slightly dreamy ones worked best. We worked in Logic, using his shuffling system to randomly layer tracks on top of each other, and we let ourselves be surprised by what worked. We chose pieces that did not have too much specific going on — no beats, etc. — so it could form a backdrop to the voice. We added sounds too (and I found out Brian likes crickets, but not frogs). We listened several times in several settings, and re-recorded one story to give the voice less intonation.”

As to the LP pressing itself, Bette added, “This title was pressed at GZ Media in the Czech Republic, via A to Z Media. The audio was also cut at GZ Media via A to Z Media using DMM (Direct Metal Mastering) technology.”

Note that the 2 Slow Stories LP is only available as part of that bundle, not on its own. I’ve also been told that the music on this LP — 55 minutes’ worth, all told — will not be made available digitally on any of the streaming services, so once the uber-limited-edition bundle is sold out, that’s it. There are no plans for a wider release of 2 Slow Stories in either analog or digital formats — thus, if you’re a fan of either/both Eno and Bette A., going with the bundle option is the only way to go.

Regarding the M.O. of the music/narrative combo, Eno (seen above) said, in an official press statement, “What we discovered when we were making these stories is that leaving longer spaces gives your mind a chance to imagine the detail that is hinted at in the story. The music creates a suggestive atmosphere which supports you in doing that. You don’t want a lot of action in the music — what you want is to create an evocative space that leaves you, the listener, in a creative frame of mind.”

Bette A. (a.k.a. Bette Adriaanse) concurred, observing that, “When everything is fast, fragmented, and designed to grasp your attention, attuning to one very slow story can be a radical act. This record is a guided daydream, a space for rest and imagination.”

Indeed, Eno’s compositions here effectively nuzzle Bette A.’s voice as she recounts two of the stories from the book: “The Endless House” (Side A, Track 1) and “The Other Village” (Side B, Track 1). “When a story is told slowly, every sentence becomes more vital,” Bette explained. “Usually, when we hear stories read, we expect the pace of the reading to be fairly even,” added Eno, whose only instruction to Bette as she recorded her short stories was the following — and quite Eno-esque, I might add — instruction: “Slow, slower, even slower, yes, more slow.”

I’m happy to report that my copy of the 2 Slow Stories LP (Unnamed Press UN005) was quite pristine. (Sadly, I did not receive one of the signed panel prints with my bundle, but c’est la vie.) The white vinyl was flat, well-centered, and quiet — and, of course, I also appreciated the plastic-lined, white-paper inner sleeve that the LP came housed in, as nestled in the right slot of the gatefold.

As one would expect from Eno, his moody accompaniment — a wholly supportive, extended-chord/note soundtrack exactly tailored to the task at hand — perfectly complements Bette A.’s inflective narratives, just as intended. You’ll find that the volume level of her narration fluctuates every few lines — sometimes tapering off, sometimes whispery, sometimes moving more outfront at centerstage — all choices of which were no mere accidents, as she pointed out earlier. You’ll find nuance after nuance upon repeat listens as you absorb the intent and content of the respective narratives on each side.

The LP’s core intent — i.e., the “slow, slower, slowest” mantra — is indeed in fine effect, and boy, did it help calm me on yet another one of those “you’ve got a 1,000 things to do, dude!” kind of days. Ratingswise, the Music/Narration combo gets a 9, and the Sound gets a 9.5. If the appealing combination of Eno’s ambiance/ambience and Bette A.’s mind’s-eye narration is your jam, the 2 Slow Stories bundle is well worth the investment. (Footnote 1)

Some more info now via the official press materials, along with some of the usual MM flavoring. The shared Slow Stories project follows the duo’s 2024 book, What Art Does: An Unfinished Theory (Faber). Bette A. (seen hard at work above) explained the origin of Slow Stories as follows: “As I developed these stories during two decades, rewriting them from memory, they grew shorter. Strange details persisted and gained significance, while what once seemed like a central plot line or meaning disappeared. I ended up with stories that feel deeper than my ideas — simpler, more layered, and more surprising.”

For both of these artists, the concept of “slowness” functioned not only as a stylistic decision, but as an act of (key word here) resistance. As they put it, quote: “Giving 30 minutes of your attention to something that is not urgent, not loud, and not passive, is rare. Putting on a record is a physical gesture to enter that mode, engage with art and, maybe, your inner world.”

Continued Bette A., “My stories take place in strange and imaginary towns and villages from pasts that never happened and futures that will never occur. These worlds exist without an elaborate background description, like islands in a misty sea.”

The hand-painted artworks that accompany the Slow Stories art bundle extend the pair’s collaboration into a shared visual world. (The LP’s gatefold, which showcases many of their interconnected works, can be seen above.) The paintings by Bette and Brian depict immersive, dreamlike terrains: birch forests with graffiti, lunar mountain ranges, floating eggs, and geometric color fields. Again, in their words: “Like the stories, the paintings leave room for the viewer to enter and make the work their own.”

The artists’ proceeds of the sale of the bundle will go to their respective charities: 1) The Heroines! Movement, a global storytelling movement around women role models, which was co-founded by Bette A.; and 2) Earth Percent, a charity that channels funds from the music industry to organizations that do the most impactful work around the climate emergency, which was co-founded by Eno.

My final assessment: Get Slow.

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Author bio: Mike Mettler is the editor of Analog Planet in addition to being the Sound Chaser columnist and contributing music editor to one of our other sister sites, Stereophile, in addition to being the regular Vinyl Icons column scribe (and occasional Opinion columnist) for Hi-Fi News and author of numerous box set liner notes. Plus, he’s quite partial to vintage 1967 Mustang fastbacks, but that’s yet another story for a different time and place.

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Footnote 1: Want more Eno? We’ve got a few options for you, then. First, our other resident Eno fanatic, the ever-estimable Mark Smotroff, reviewed Eno’s collaboration with U2, Passengers’ Original Soundtracks I RSD First 180g 2LP set here, which posted on April 18, 2025.

Next, Smotroff reviewed Eno’s recycled-vinyl FOREVERANDEVERNOMORE 180g LP here, on January 13, 2023.

BETTE A. I BRIAN ENO
2 SLOW STORIES
1LP (Unnamed Press)

Side A
1. The Endless House

Side B
1. The Other Village