I have an ex-boyfriend who will love this album. He’s very clever, very patient and very in love with David Byrne. If you –like me- don’t possess all three of these characteristics you might feel less enthralled.

 

You would expect that giving a master lyric writer like Byrne and a master music maker like Eno the opportunity to concentrate on their pet art forms would yield some amazing results. While I can hear that there are some extraordinary songs on this album I can’t actually feel anything except bewilderment. Byrne’s lyrics are beautifully sung but frustratingly abstract. The music is similarly neutral; characterized by some very cool synth riffs undercut by symphony and choir parts. While this is interesting and innovative it doesn’t actually lend any shape or climax to the songs. Alarmingly, when I think about a genre to match this music the words ‘modernized Adult Contemporary’ keep sneaking onto my computer screen.

 

If you are clever enough to decode the lyrics, in-love with David Byrne enough to bother trying and patient enough to sit through twenty listens of the album until the music takes on some shape it’s probably a very rewarding listen. - Farrin