David Byrne: Look Into the Eyeball

Virgin Records

Time has quelled the manic energy that pervaded David Byrne's work with the seminal new-wave supergroup Talking Heads, but there are still reminders here of that past. Look Into the Eyeball teems with funky, fluid bass lines, Latin percussion and rhythms, and that wry lyrical wit that's still irritatingly “quirky” at times. And Byrne's trademark gangly vocals are omnipresent too, though once again Father Time has smoothed the edges considerably.

Byrne's an adult now, and as playful as he'd like to be throughout, he still shucks the old guitar in favor of nicely understated string arrangements along with brass, keys, and savory percussion to flesh out the songs, which are surprisingly well written. Why surprising? Because Byrne hardly seems like a man on a mission here; more like an older gent sipping mojitos on his porch on a fine summer Sunday, content as can be.

This nicely crafted and beautifully produced suite of arrangements will please not only serious Heads fans, but also those looking for some good songwriting in a non-threatening, colorful, and musically mature package that sits nicely on the shelf with the French presses at Starbucks. It is a perfectly pleasant background score for pasta-making, garden work, and other stuff 40-something yuppies waste their time on. Which makes it my definition of hell, actually.

—John Pecorelli

Alternative Press magazine