Everything Happens Tomorrow

(Byrne and Eno photo from New York Times)

The Sept. 18 David Byrne show at Ferguson Center in Newport News will catch the former Talking Head at a cool moment -- exactly a month after he'll have released "Everything That Happens Will Happen Today," his new collaboration with Brian Eno. The album will be released tomorrow through the site www.everythingthathappens.com. The whole record will be available for free streaming or for purchase as a download. One track, "Strange Overtones," has already been available for free through the site, and according to today's New York Times story about the album, the track was downloaded 40,000 times in the first three days it was available.

So by the time Byrne reaches Newport News (regrettably without Eno, who isn't going to be part of the tour, though he'll probably show up for a few gigs here and there) Byrne and the rest of us will have lived with the music for a month. It'll be familiar, but still fresh. It's pretty much a best-case scenario for everyone involved.

The new disc is less experimental than Byrne-Eno's 1981 collaboration, as the NYT Jon Pareles story explains.

"The new album is by no means a sequel to 'Bush of Ghosts.' It is, in a way, more conventional: a set of songs, with verses and choruses, placing Mr. Byrne’s lead vocals up front with Mr. Eno’s voice occasionally in the background. Most songs are in major keys, using just three or four chords — different from the more elaborate pop songs Mr. Byrne had been writing. 'I think minor chords fill in too much of the picture already,” Mr. Eno said. “They push you into a certain place. You can make major chords sound sad, but you can never make minor chords sound happy.' "