REVIEW: David Byrne, Feelings (Luaka Bop/Warner)

- Joe Silva

Since this project started to get airtime, Byrne has made much noise about his coming to believe in the verite of the home studio ethic and that much of this LP was born in that very fashion. And thousands of indie outfits bear out this same notion annually with sometimes no than a four-track rig and a couple of grand to get their discs pressed. But when the term "home studio" passes across David Byrne's lips, he's apparently not speaking in quite the same tongues as those who exist in and about the lo-fi arena.

Not fifteen seconds into the lead track ("Fuzzy Freaky"), with its phat wah-wah intro and thick rhythmic undertow, you realize that no one who's shared much close artistic space with Brian Eno, is going to suddenly jettison twenty years of forward musical thinking to resemble some sub-Superchunk pop unit. In fact, Byrne has once again, taken his left-ish field musical vision and conjured an album that's as sonically compelling as anything that's beared his name.

There may not be the eerie urban perfection of Fear of Music, or the brilliant pastiche of his Life In The Bush of Ghosts project he co-sired with Eno, but Byrne continues along the same omni directional path that all of his solo material has benefitted from.

By now, he's almost entirely slipped from radio's consciousness into the limbo that is hyper-critical acclaim, and by that travesty, records as well executed as this release, will most likely be ignored. Feelings carries on in the same strong second-wind form as the previous, self-titled LP demonstrated.

For all the other-worldly music that Byrne probably saturates himself with, the appearance of the Salsa-fied "Miss America" alongside the oddball grooviness of the opener "Fuzzy Freaky" and the plaintive grace of "A Soft Seduction" shows that Byrne has remained rooted in a largely balanced musical perspective. Casting his many faces across these fourteen tracks, Byrne addresses almost all of his strengths and characteristics that have endeared him to the devoted over the past two decades. To find another rhythmic intuition as flawless, married to a lyrical balance that's just grim enough, just humorous enough while being butted up against intellectually cool pop melodies, is not a simple thing.

The collaborations (Devo, Morcheeba, The Black Cat Orchestra) seem to bear enough fruit, and hodge-podge moments like "The Gates of Paradise" show that in just over three minutes, Byrne can also move with as much effortlessness between as many styles (jungle, country, pop). There are a few moments of depleted magic though, and if you were saddled with a partner, pets, four children and x amount of disposable income, opting for the last LP might be slightly more satisfying. But given more time in its company, there's a fair chance that Feelings may warrant a retraction of the previous statement.