Brian Eno
Music
Life after Bush of Ghosts
by Gavin Bertram
David Byrne and Brian Eno are together again for an “electronic folk gospel” album.
Last December, ex-Talking Head Byrne wrote an article for Wired magazine on the future of music marketing. Byrne distilled six strategies spanning different levels of control artists would retain over their affairs.
In the wake of Radiohead offering In Rainbows online for whatever the consumer was willing to pay, it was a timely exposition. Under the Radiohead model, Byrne explained, artists could receive “a larger percentage of fewer sales, most likely, but not always”.
Fortunately for Byrne and Eno, nothing rides on the sales of Everything That Happens Will Happen Today. They’ve made the album available free via internet streaming ad infinitum. It can also be bought in various formats.
For Byrne and Eno, ever the curious art-schoolers, it’s a grand experiment of digital media consumption. With no record company or marketing plan, Byrne has said it’ll be interesting to see how many punters come to the album through word of mouth.
It’ll be even more interesting to see how many pay for it. Due to the artists’ previous collaboration, 1981’s My Life in the Bush of Ghosts, being so revered, Everything … arrives to keen expectation.
Although 27 years ago they were pioneers in the art of sampling, now they’re pioneers only in distribution methods. Everything … is musically interesting, but it is no continuation of what was started then, and is in no way as revelatory.
Instead it is predominantly a vehicle for Byrne’s songwriting. As such, there are many moments when the Talking Heads spectre arises. And not so much the early period when Eno produced the albums Fear of Music, Remain in Light and Speaking in Tongues, but more the plangent, country-tinged era of Little Creatures and True Stories.
Well known for his production work with U2, David Bowie and most recently Coldplay, Eno adds some subtle touches. As with anything he touches, though, they are a vital part of the mix. Where Byrne’s concern is with easily digestible songs such as Strange Overtones, Eno’s is with sonic detailing. This offers an almost subconscious counterpoint on Feel My Stuff and Wanted for Life.
Though these are good examples of a contemporary subversion of pop music, there’s ample material here that is not so convincing. The “electronic folk gospel” that Eno has described may sound alluring, but it’s not a new idea.
Everything That Happens Will Happen Today is an enjoyable album, but in no way the visionary quantum leap of My Life in the Bush of Ghosts.
EVERYTHING THAT HAPPENS WILL HAPPEN TODAY, David Byrne and Brian Eno (everythingthathappens.com).
