Album Review: David Byrne, Who Is The Sky?

As frontman with Talking Heads, David Byrne is responsible for some of the most anthemic and quirky indie-pop in history, from ‘Psycho Killer’ to ‘Road To Nowhere’. Since their break-up in 1991, Byrne has ploughed a magnificently eclectic furrow, incorporating genres from opera to samba.

The singer’s first album in seven years sees him collaborating with Grammy-winning super producer Kid Harpoon, whose previous credits include Miley Cyrus and Harry Stiles, with arrangements by New York chamber ensemble, Ghost Train Orchestra, and musical guests including St. Vincent, Paramore’s Hayley Williams and Tom Skinner from The Smile.

The result is a soaring, swirling and joyous affair that’s almost certain to be the happiest record you hear all year. Lead single and album opener ‘Everybody Laughs’ is a gleeful and giddy rush of choral voices, including St. Vincent; it’s a more upbeat sibling to R.E.M.’s ‘Everybody Hurts’, although the lyrics are somewhat at odds with the melody.

‘A Door Called No’ is a simple ballad, couched inside sumptuous orchestration, which recalls Talking Heads’ classic ‘Heaven’, and ‘She Explains Things To Me’ is Byrne at his most tender. Then there’s the madcap mariachi of ‘What Is The Reason For It?’, while the staccato rhythm of ‘Don't Be Like That’ sounds like George Michael’s ‘Faith’ slowed down.

On the confessional and crazy ‘My Apartment Is My Friend’, an ode to his home, Byrne takes his neuroses for a stroll over a strident 4/4 dance-floor ready beat, along with bouncy brass and all manner of wonderful weirdness.

There’s more hilarious magic realism on ‘I Met The Buddha At A Downtown Party’, where our hero addresses the enlightened one on his diet, and the Roald Dahl-like ‘Moisturizing Thing’, where an anti-ageing cream has unexpected results. On the tongue-in-cheek ‘The Avant Garde’, one can visualise Byrne’s raised eyebrow and knowing wink as he dissects the wilfully weird.

Genre-bending brilliance from a true maverick.

9/10