David Byrne and Brian Eno: My Life in the Bush of Ghosts

When writing my review of David Byrne‘s concert at the Greek a few days ago, I was listening to various tunes from his back catalog on shuffle mode in iTunes to put me in the proper mood. It worked to a certain degree (hey, I did finish the damn thing after all) but it also helped to remind me the depth of the man’s solo work.

“My Life in the Bush of Ghosts,” Byrne’s first official non-Heads side project, created alongside Brian Eno, was a point of contention for me for quite some time. It is typically universally praised as a groundbreaking work and on that level I agree with such assessment but it always strained me to listen to it. Perhaps because it immediately followed Talking Heads’ landmark masterpiece, “Remain in Light,” also produced by Brian Eno, that I have trouble accepting it as a standalone album. “Light’s” shadow looms large over the entirety of “Ghosts” and that’s one of its problems. More than a sequel, “Ghosts” is like an extension of the ideas found within the former album but never fully developed enough to justify its status in my view.

Beyond its pedigree, the release is perhaps most notable for being one of the first albums to use phoned-in voices as a primary vocal track. All the voices were sampled from various other sources and on some tracks, such as “Mea Culpa,” were tweaked beyond recognition so as to become incoherent noise. Said noise provides a nice counter balance to the performed and programed beats and rhythms provided by Byrne and Eno. Although they worked well together on past Heads albums, “Ghosts” feels more like a clash than a true collaboration between the two. It’s difficult to say whose ideas were more esoteric and whose were more musical since both have written songs strange and catchy in the past.

The entire album feels like an art project made by two students after hours and presented as a final thesis and I mean that as a compliment. One of the albums virtues is the very personal, handmade aesthetic. I suspect part of the reason for the album’s appeal was its sheer originality. To be sure, “My Life in the Bush of Ghosts” sounds like no other album ever. Even today when everyone from Beck to Radiohead has liberally borrowed from its grooves.

So with all this going for it, why was I so luke warm towards the album for such a long time? I’m not sure. I’ve always seen it as overrated despite the fact that I admire both artists behind the project. It seems thought that I’m finally starting to warm up to the album but I still can’t quite muster the enthusiasm that I enjoy with their other works. Ostensibly, “My Life in the Bush of Ghosts” is an album who parts are greater than the sum. There things about the album that I can’t get enough of: the vocal loops, the atmospheric soundscapes, the cover art. I thing I can’t deny is the album’s ability to If it was a lesser work, I wouldn’t be so frustrated with my reluctance to embrace it. To that end, it has a certain power and charm to it that few other works possess. It may be a difficult album to love but it is easy to appreciate.
- By JOE CORTEZ