On the website for Everything That Happens Will Happen Today, David Byrne writes that his goal for the album was “to write simple, heartfelt tunes without drawing on cliché.” With their first collaboration in nearly three decades, Eno and Byrne certainly accomplish that aim. Everything That Happens Will Happen Today features some of the most effective and straightforward compositions by either musician, resulting in an exhilarating and accessible record that still sparkles with the innovation and eccentricity of their previous work.
The project was birthed when Byrne added vocals to a number of previously composed Eno instrumentals, making for a sound the duo describes as “electronic gospel.” Though the strummed acoustic guitars, vocal focus, and judiciously placed electronics certainly support that label, the inclusion of more experimental pieces and funk stylings make it clear that they’re not limiting themselves to any single direction.
Initially, the most striking aspect of the album is Byrne’s voice. Sure, there’s still some of his signature yelping and cartoonish vocal stylings (“Wanted For Life” and “I Feel My Stuff”), but most of the album resonates with a rich, controlled vocal delivery that’s heartfelt, straightforward, and wonderfully effective. “Everything That Happens” and “One Fine Day” build from intimate vocal/guitar pairings to exhilarating climaxes of lush, reverb-soaked vocal harmonies. The disembodied vocals of “The Lighthouse” are enough to send shivers down your spine.
Eno’s touch and the duo’s penchant for experimentation come through most clearly in the more abstract electro sounds of “I Feel My Stuff,” a dark, bone-chilling composition of synthetic piano flurries and hypnotized vocals that explodes into hard-grooving synth/guitar hits and stands among the best work of their previous collaborations. “Poor Boy” features Byrne’s vocal quirks over layers of African percussion and funky retro horn hits that marry the sampled sound collage approach of My Life in the Bush of Ghosts with the weird funk of Remain In Light. The album’s retro-funk single, “Strange Overtones,” could’ve been a Talking Heads song—even Byrne admits in the lyrics that “these beats are twenty years old.” And they still sound damn good.
While Everything That Happens Will Happen Today won’t likely have the influence or staying power of their earlier collaborations, the album is much more than a safe return to the good old days. Both Eno and Byrne have clearly evolved with the music around them while maintaining the individual quirks and collaborative sounds that set them apart in the first place—the sounds that defined them as two of the most innovative and influential figures of modern popular music.
|