David Byrne and Brian Eno could now be realistically considered as some of contemporary music’s elder statesman. Between them they have been contributed to some of rock and pop’s most important releases since the early 70’s. Without even considering his massive showreel of production credits Brian Eno is often considered to be one of the founding fathers of modern ambient electronic music while Byrne is best known for his work with quirky art rockers Talking Heads. When you put the two together the results have traditionally been magical. ‘My Life In The Bush Of Ghosts’ was nothing short of groundbreaking with its use of found sound and spoken word cut ups it predated the mainstream sampling culture by a good decade and you could even argue that without it modern dance music would have taken a wildly different route. Following this was Eno’s production credits on no less than three Talking Heads album and his input could arguably be said to have fired some of their best work.

So now twenty seven years after their first outing together they return with ‘Everything That Happens Will Happen Today’ preceded with the delightful free single ‘Strange Overtones’ what you have here are eleven tracks with Eno handling the bulk of the musical duties while Byrne adds his distinctive vocal and lyrical style to the music.

I’ll confess I went into the listening experience expecting nothing less than the musical epiphany that ‘Bush Of Ghosts’ provided. However back then I was still young and as listener considerably more wet behind the ears. Lightning it has to be said rarely strikes twice, but this doesn’t make this a poor showing by any means. The fact is Byrne and Eno aren’t aiming at the same target they were in 1979. Once you accept that fact then this becomes a perfectly acceptable body of work.

Lyrically Byrne still has a sense of edginess about him and vocally he never seems to age, the slightly wavering falsettos and yelps and growls are still in evidence (perhaps slightly tempered nowadays). Eno’s production stamp meanwhile remains firmly in place with a spacious layers of guitars and vast open spaces for the various tiers of sound to roam. There’s a huge sense of warmth and invitation to the record and only once does it wander into older territories with the jittery bass of ‘Poor Boy’.

As a collaborative piece whole this doesn’t challenge in the way that many might be expecting. But it does progress naturally without any hint of force. Essentially here are two musicians who seem to work together in a seamless fashion making music and enjoying themselves. The results of which are an album one can quietly recommend.