# Brian Eno — An Ending (Ascent)

Brian Eno’s An Ending (Ascent) (1983) appears on 3 of our lists — Ambient, The Waxonia Desk — A Way In, and The Waxonia Desk — The Hundred, highest at No. 1 in Ambient. Every verdict, in full.

- **Released:** 1983
- **Label:** Editions EG
- **On:** Ambient, The Waxonia Desk — A Way In, and The Waxonia Desk — The Hundred
- **Updated:** 2026-08-29
- **Artist:** [Brian Eno](https://waxonia.com/artist/brian-eno/)
- **Canonical page:** https://waxonia.com/track/brian-eno--an-ending-ascent/

## What 3 lists say

### No. 1 in [Ambient](https://waxonia.com/genre/ambient/)

Four chords, an enormous amount of room around them, and more emotional weight than most symphonies manage. It has soundtracked moon landings and funerals alike, and earns both.

### Picked by [The Waxonia Desk — A Way In](https://waxonia.com/selection/the-desk-a-way-in/)

Four chords and an enormous amount of room around them. The best argument that ambient music is composition rather than absence, and the easiest one to hear on first listen.

### Picked by [The Waxonia Desk — The Hundred](https://waxonia.com/selection/the-desk-the-hundred/)

Four minutes that have been used to sell everything and still cannot be cheapened. The purest demonstration that music can be a place rather than an event.

## Analysis

8 sections, the first drop of 3 at 1:14, 28% of the way in.

- **Tempo:** 129.2 BPM — holds throughout
- **Key:** Ab major
- **Dynamic range:** 4.8 dB — compressed hard — very little between the quiet and the loud
- **Length:** 4:21

- `0:00` A · **intro** (bar -6), instrumental — opens the record below its own average energy — playing: other
- `0:40` B · **peak** (bar 16), instrumental — sits at the top of this record's range — playing: other
- `1:08` C · **peak** (bar 30), sung — sits at the top of this record's range — playing: vocals, other
- `1:40` C · **peak** (bar 48), sung — sits at the top of this record's range — playing: vocals, other
- `2:22` D · **steady** (bar 70), instrumental — holding a level — the groove, neither rising nor falling — playing: vocals, other
- `2:32` C · **peak** (bar 76), instrumental — sits at the top of this record's range — playing: other
- `3:27` C · **peak** (bar 106), instrumental — sits at the top of this record's range — playing: vocals, other
- `4:04` E · **outro** (bar 125), instrumental — the closing fall

**Drops** at 1:14 (bar 34), 2:32 (bar 76), 3:35 (bar 110). A drop is a moment, not a stretch.

**What is playing.** Separated into parts by a source-separation model, so each lane is the instrument it names.

- **drums:** the drum kit, separated from the mix
- **bass:** the bass part, separated from the mix
- **vocals:** the voice, separated from the mix
- **other:** everything else — synths, guitars, keys, strings

Measured from the YouTube master on 2026-08-29. Section labels describe how the energy
moves, not musical form. Anything we were not confident enough to state is omitted
rather than hedged.

## Listen

[Search Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/search/Brian%20Eno%20An%20Ending%20(Ascent)) · [YouTube Music](https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=OlaTeXX3uH8)

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