Album Review: American Utopia, DAVID BYRNE

David Byrne’s first album since Love This Giant – an acclaimed 2012 collaboration with St. Vincent – finds him hooking up once again with legendary super-producer Brian Eno, a creative partnership that has yielded several classic moments over the years. Like many current albums, American Utopia is heavily concerned with the ongoing upheaval in US politics, the isolationist nature of which is nothing short of an affront to a man of Byrne’s internationalist outlook. As ever, this album is a masterful cocktail of skewed new wave rhythms, world music grooves, jagged guitar riffs and Byrne’s typically neurotic lyrics. A particular highlight is ‘Gasoline And Dirty Sheets’, which finds Byrne striking up a trademark art-funk groove, with winning results. With a noticeably optimistic tone, American Utopia is a welcome riposte to the ugliness of the alt.right movement. Excellent stuff. OUT NOW

Rating: 8/10