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Mild-Mannered Pop Masks Byrne's Ambition

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By CURTIS ROSS

The Tampa Tribune

Published: December 11, 2008

Updated:

Considering the head-spinning properties of previous Brian Eno-David Byrne collaborations - three of the first four (and best) Talking Heads records and 1981's analog-sampling trailblazer "My Life in the Bush of Ghosts" - this new pairing comes off a little, well, conservative.

It's a collection of pop songs, and pretty mild-mannered ones at that, at least on first listen. Couple that with a title so Byrnesian that it seems parodic, and expectations are lower than Ford stock.

Then the title track plays and the reassessment begins.

Slow and dreamy, "Everything Happens" could be voiced by the narrator of "Don't Worry 'Bout the Government" from Talking Heads 1977 debut album. But where that song contented itself with celebrating the mundane, "Everything Happens" transcends them, giving a tinge of spirituality to the everyday.

"Everything" establishes once and for all that Byrne is more than the sum of his quirks and level of ironic detachment. His sense of humor is still with him, but this is Byrne at his most engaged, and it's that humanity that ultimately makes this album special.

Eno's presence is less overt, but it's there - in the gentle folk melody of opening track, "Home," in the climate-controlled beats of "I Feel My Stuff," and in the brief choral breakdown in "The River."

The pair draws on soul and R&B, as opposed to funk or Afrobeat, more than ever before. "My Big Nurse" even brings in country, in a totally un-self-conscious way, something that couldn't be imagined on a Byrne album even 10 years ago. But that's appropriate, because with Eno around to handle the sonics, Byrne's focus is on writing songs, maybe more than ever before.

Songs - nothing wrong with those.

Download this: "Everything Happens"

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