everything that happens will happen today

David Byrne and Brian Eno reunited for this experiment with electronic gospel to find a sense of hope and joy in the dark fluidity.  Twenty-five years after their first collaboration 'My Life in the Bush of Ghosts', Byrne and Eno found themselves sharing musical ideas again.  

Eno reveals:    “We didn’t really talk to each other.  We used e-mail, the modern way of recording. I could spend as long as I wanted on the music. And he wasn’t under any pressure to do something with me sitting there drumming my fingers...I didn’t think about it.  This was just something new.”

Byrne expressed at the time:    "In a nutshell, Brian wrote most of the music, and I composed most of the vocal melodies and lyrics, and then sang them. Other musicians play on the album too. It’s not 'Bush of Ghosts II': this is a record of sung songs, and the result really surprises me. Despite a sinister inflection to both the lyrics and the music, many songs feel fairly uplifting and the overall tone is hopeful. From where does this quality derive?   Eno and I hadn’t worked together for many years, but since the Nonesuch reissue of 'Bush Of Ghosts' in 2006, we’d kept in contact fairly regularly. In spite of a slow start, we began to collaborate, still with no plans to make a whole record (or whatever a collection of songs might be called now). After a while though, it became obvious that we were indeed making a record. As it neared completion, we decided to try releasing it ourselves — so far there is no record label involved — though various independent distributors will handle the physical CDs. Those who follow the music industry will know this idea is not entirely new; but every experiment in this area turns out a little different, as no model is right for everyone."

'Everything That Happens Will Happen Today' features Leo Abrahams on acoustic and electric guitar, piano, percussion,  coin guitar, upright piano, hurdy gurdy, baritone guitar, Dubreq Stylophone, programming, thunder guitar, ebow, high bass, and reverse guitars; David Byrne on vocals, guitars, ebow guitars, clavinet, piano, surdu, and percussion; Brian Eno on bass guitar, backing vocals, electric drums, Kaoss Pad, keyboards, guitars, organ, Steinberg virtual guitar, "inhuman piano" vocalizations, brass, traps, water guitars, stellar voice, strings, programming, Omnichord piano, guitar treatments, keys, and shakers; and Seb Rochford on live drums;   with Steve Jones on delay guitar, fast pulls guitar, and rhythm guitar; Tim Harries on melody bass; Phil Manzanera on drone guitar; Robert Wyatt on frame drum solo; Melanie Hall QC on female backing vocals; Robert Wyatt on Handsonic drum; Darla Eno and Irial Eno on vocals; Dan Levine on brass and arrangement; Dave Mann and Paul Shapiro on brass and treated brass; Barry Danielian on treated brass; and Mauro Refosco on murky pandeiro, cricket shaker, reco reco, peddler's rattle, bongo, conga, tambourine, zabumba, cahon, tamborim, and timbal.  

Byrne discusses the spirituality that informs the lyrics:   “I’m always thinking about it but not overtly. That might frighten me. Probably like a lot of people, I feel alienated from the traditional models that were presented when I was a child, and eventually I left those and said, ‘That doesn’t seem relevant to me.’ But I, like a lot of people, felt that as human beings we have some longing for transcending things in some way, shape or form...I thought, if I can write lyrics that emphasize that kind of uplift but then express the other stuff that’s going on as well, then it will seem like the music and the words and all the other stuff all belong together and came out of one mind, as opposed to being artificially stuck together.”

Byrne created his own label Todo Mundo to release the album; which was originally released through their own website and streamed for free.  Although it sold more than twenty thousand downloads on the website, 'Everything That Happens Will Happen Today' didn't chart until it was released as a CD in November of 2008.  It made it to number one hundred and seventy-four on the US billboard 200 album chart, one hundred and twenty-seven in France, fifty-eight in Belgium, thirty-one in New Zealand, three on the CMJ radio 200, and number one on the College Music Journal AAA charts.  'Everything That Happens Will Happen Today' was featured in numerous lists of the best albums of the year and was nominated for three Grammy Awards (Best Alternative Music Album, Best Recording Package, and Best Boxed or Special Limited Edition Package) winning for Best Recording Package.  





http://www.davidbyrne.com/


http://brian-eno.net/








"Strange Overtones"




'Everything That Happens Will Happen Today' 
full album:



All lyrics written by David Byrne; all music by Byrne (vocals) and Brian Eno (instrumentation), except "Strange Overtones" co-written by Leo Abrahams.

1. "Home" – 5:06
2. "My Big Nurse" – 3:21
3. "I Feel My Stuff" – 6:25
4. "Everything That Happens" – 3:46
5. "Life Is Long" – 3:45
6. "The River" – 2:30
7. "Strange Overtones" – 4:17
8. "Wanted for Life" – 5:06
9. "One Fine Day" – 4:55
10. "Poor Boy" – 4:19
11. "The Lighthouse" – 3:46