Anxious, neurotic, erratic, playful, lonely. All appropriate adjectives when describing the music of the incomparable Talking Heads. Remain in Light is arguably their magnum opus (tho they have a few contenders, in my opinion). Their third collaboration with the now-decorated producer Brian Eno, they clearly shared an affinity for genres like funk and afrobeat, taking from P-Funk & Fela Kuti alike. Colonizer tendencies aside, they crafted a nice little gumbo of nervous tension that never quite gets resolved here, which may or may not be the point.
The first 3 tracks are a cocktail of melodic counterpoint and infectious rhythms, with David Byrne delivering a medley of vocal styles from crooning, rapping and preaching. Tina Weymouth and Chris Frantz lay down some simple but hypnotic bass lines drumming to anchor the songs down to Earth. Jerry Harrison adorns each piece with enough melodic and rhythmic backing to keep the momentum moving and shifting. All the while, MVP Brian Eno helps to gorilla glue all these elements together into a sturdy structure that's akin to a mirror funhouse that goes on infinitely.
David Byrne's eccentricities don't stop at the sonics. His lyrical themes lean toward the abstract on the surface, but speak a lot to the human condition, whether it's the sudden realization of one's life being on autopilot (Once In a Lifetime), the desire to change your own appearance through unfeasible means (Seen and Not Seen), or just being fed up with the housing market (Houses in Motion). The last one might be a stretch but that's neither here nor there.
Our drummer extraordinaire, Mike V., had (and continues to have...) an affinity for David Byrne's whimsy and this led me to revisit Talking Heads' discography and I'm glad I did. As a band, we tend to gravitate towards some sort of hyper mutant disco jam, which I feel is an appropriate tag line for this album. Check it out.
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