david byrne and brian eno 2008

it’s sometimes a daunting experience - and more often an awakening and reminding experience - to be drawn to recall moments that seem like they were relatively recent but turn out to have taken place over twenty or thirty years ago. i find myself drawn immediately to think of all that has passed between the two parentheses of the event and the current moment.

i can still recall the first time i put david byrne’s and brian eno’s seminal release ”my life in the bush of ghosts” on my record player. having been immersed in its big brother talking head’s ”remain in light” released the previous year (1980) to mixed critical acclaim, i was somewhat prepared for what was presented in “my life in the bush of ghosts”, but with the musical influence more directly placed in byrne and eno’s hands, the results (in my mind and ears) were that much more powerful and transformative.

drawing together the best features of world music, funk, and the art school aesthetic that permeated the heads, “remain in light” was and still is one of the more powerful albums of music i have heard. “my life in the bush of ghosts” took it one step further, pushing the boundaries of those elements, and elaborating on some of the details that appeared on “remain in light” by using strategies, assumptions and techniques that more thoroughly reflected the emerging zeitgeist. drawing on a view that saw a less disjunctive sense of the spiritual, emotional, and cultural tapestry that is our world, "my life in the bush of ghosts" melded the seemingly disparate elements of culture and technology into music that could either be danced or listened to - or both!

released in 1981, it drew together “found-sounds”, funk, african rhythm, and most profoundly took the technique of sampling vocals from other sources such as commercial recordings of arabic singers, radio djs, and preachers into an entirely unfamiliar realm.

the boys then . . .

as an admirer of both men’s work independent of each other, it seemed like a wish come true that they should end up working together. that they ended up creating something larger than either of them in terms of its extraordinary impact on the world of music and on whatever other worlds music compels to move forward is now a given in the view of most music critics and admirers of contemporary music alike.

to hear soundbites from each track on “my life in the bush of ghosts” then wander over here.

two tracks that stand out for me in terms of their groundbreaking qualities but more importantly because of the power of the music itself are firstly “moonlight in glory”, astonishingly rendered here by jakob trollback. this is trollback’s stunning answer to the question “what would a music video look like if it were directed by the music, purely as an expression of a great song, rather than driven by a filmmaker's concept?” to see the video and hear a little bit of jakob's thinking go here.

nor surprisingly, byrne and eno’s trajectories have seen them acknowledge the respective wealth of their creative intellect through becoming visual artists, videographers, speakers and writers on a wide range of subjects but chiefly focussing on their insights into culture as a living breathing becoming entity, and of course their work as creators of music.

so it is really exciting and interesting to see that they have come together again after a lengthy period of time since their last collaboration to produce something almost entirely unexpected.

the boys now . . .

“ brian eno and i recently finished our first collaboration in about 30 years. the name of the new record is “everything that happens will happen today”. for the most part, brian did the music and i wrote some tunes, words and sang.it's familiar but completely new as well. we're pretty excited.” to learn more about the process whereby this album came into being then read this.

here then is david byrne and brian eno’s latest collaboration streamed . . .

if you are interested in learning more about david byrne and spending a little more time in his wonderful world then you really should visit david’s site. brian doesn’t have his own website but almost anything that is of interest connected to his work, thinking, projects, whatever can be found at enoweb.