By Andrew Phillips

Released nearly three decades ago, Brian Eno and David Byrne's first collaboration, My Life in the Bush Of Ghosts, went out of its way to accentuate the rogue duo's experimental inclinations. The pair's high-profile follow-up, Everything That Happens Will Happen Today, offers a stark counterpoint to that earlier record's impenetrability, embracing long-held pop archetypes. More evocative of Byrne's recent solo work than Talking Heads-style experimentalism, songs like "Home," "The River," and "One Fine Day" are awash in resonant, airy atmospheres, winding synths, and pillowy harmonies. Eno's production remains inimitably lush, but where once there were whiffs of technical provocation, he now relies almost exclusively on a cushion of warm production flourishes. While "Poor Boy" and "Strange Overtones" make real stabs at eclecticism, pushing things forward might not be the point. Everything That Happens isn't about shaking up an age that isn't their own; it's about proving that Eno and Byrne have aged better than pretty much anyone else.