Bright Red

Bright Red by Laurie Anderson

How do you make a pop song work without the safety net of melody? Rappers do it with hyperactive dance beats and lots of attitude, but Laurie Anderson does it by relaxing our defenses with her soothing telephone-operator voice, her hypnotic synth patterns, and droning organ washes. Once she has lured us into her aural lair, she trips us up with broken syntax and disconnected sentence fragments. Bright Red's producer is Brian Eno, an astute choice, for no one does ambient backdrops better. By themselves, these atmospheric harmonies are mere background music, Anderson's spoken monologues nothing more than bohemian stand-up comedy. When the two elements click, however, the result is some of the most original pop music around. As always, what saves Anderson from smug self-indulgence is her wicked sense of humor and her genuine sense of dread. --Geoffrey Himes