Album Review- David Byrne- Who is the Sky

At some point, David Byrne and I went our separate ways. 

The Talking Heads were a major pop band when I was growing up. Specifically “Burning Down the House” was a monster hit. It went to # 9 on the US charts. While “Once in a Lifetime” became their signature song (at least for awhile, “Psycho Killer” likely has eclipsed it now), the bigger radio hit was my main impression. In 1988, they released their final album Naked. (With time, the focus has gone to the band’s early work and this album is considered a bit of a dud). I picked up Naked off the strength of the fantastic song “(Nothing But) Flowers” which featured on record (and heavily-played-on- MTV video) an assist from Johnny Marr and Kirsty MacColl. The album feels quintessentially late 80s. College Rock was on the ascent but hadn’t quite made the breakthrough that gets attributed to Grunge in the 90s. That was when U2 and REM elevated to arena level bands. It seemed everyone was just a hit single away. There were a lot of solid albums in those days as record labels gambled on the likes of Elvis Costello, the Replacements and the Violent Femmes. There were some great albums but time has not been kind to those when people reappraise them and they get compared to those artists' earlier work. Now, I’m not here to argue that Naked is a five star album but it was a statement, and the world music elements felt revolutionary at the time. 

In 1992, I would pick up Sand in the Vaseline which like any decent compilation gives you everything you need in one spot. Though there’s probably multiple correcr answers, my go to Talking Heads album for recent years has been “Talking Heads ‘77”. In 1989, Byrne released Rei Momo, his solo debut album. It got a lot of play in the Modern Rock space. Still in that period of the ambitious college rock landscape, where there finally was room for left-of-center artists like Billy Bragg and Robyn Hitchcock. It wasn’t something that caught my attention but I appreciated that Byrne was doing something that hadn’t been done quite like this- combining Modern Rock with sounds from Brazil, Cuba and the Dominican Republic. 

You couldn’t have a discussion today of most influential bands of all time without mentioning the Talking Heads but there were some down times. In 1996, there was a reunion without Byrne called The Heads with the aptly titled accompanying record No Talking, Just Heads. It was a dud even though looking back now the talent assembled seems worthwhile. I remember listening to some songs and walking away with barely an impression.

Byrne’s output in the 1990s isn’t particularly impressive either. There were some singles that got some traction and some attention but nothing that gets much mention these days. In fact, it really was his 2012 collaboration with St Vincent-the Love This Giant album and follow up world tour that really brought Byrne back to the spotlight in a major way. Byrne followed that up with American Utopia-an album then Broadway Show and then a Movie. It was a culmination of a new generation that celebrated Byrne- sometimes in an imitative fashion- Vampire Weekend, Clap Your Hands Say Yeah, Franz Ferdinand and many others. Oh and there was those guys who named themselves after the sixth track on the Talking Heads seventh album - a song called “Radio Head”. 

Byrne was never completely off my radar, of course, even as I wasn’t checking in heavily. He appeared on 2009s Spirit of Apollo, an album by the collective NASA. He collaborated with Chuck D and Seu Jorge on that album which elsewhere paired indie rockers (Karen O, MIA, Santigold, Tom Waits) with innovative rappers (Kanye West, Kool Keith, KRS-1, and members of the Wu Tang Clan). I also read and loved two books he wrote -2009s Bicycle Diaries and 2012s How Music Works. 

The local public radio station played the heck out of 2025s Who Is the Sky? It makes sense of course- it’s the perfect album for that- equally ambitious and radio friendly. That will likely be the deciding factor if you like it. I fell in love with the record but it’s an upbeat, at times silly album. Some might find it cloying. The album is technically a collaboration between Byrne and Ghost Train Orchestra, the New York City based Avant Garde jazz collective. Hayley Williams and Annie Clark of St Vincent show up for vocals on a song each. Grammy winner Kid Harpoon (Harry Styles, Shawn Mendes, Miley Cyrus) produces, giving it pop star polish. 

As I look over reviews, it seems that this was generally loved though reviewers almost universally felt it fell short of being a truly great record. Pitchfork was the rare reviewer who gave it a negative review though it’s interesting that they picked up on something that I thought right away. There is definitely a Jonathan Richman vibe on some songs. Take “She Explains Things to Me” which is the sort of “older couple in love” songs that might fall on the wrong side for some listeners. “Moisturizing Thing” falls in similar cringe territory though I find charm in it. Or “My Apartment is my Friend”, a paean to… well, what it says in the title. Maybe this is why Pitchfork gave us the lowest score I have seen in months. Similarly you might not take to the songs that find Byrne in a sea of hipsters. 

There’s “The Avant Garde”, which is fantastic and argues just because it’s avant garde, doesn’t mean it’s good. Then, "I Met the Buddha at a Downtown Party" which has the trademark Byrne wit. I really love this album which is chock full of poppy sounding songs which remind you why you love Byrne in the first place, and that he is indeed the same as he ever...no I can't say that. Having reminded myself of the great Modern Rock boom of the late 80s and early 90s, this album feels like that- a true album and not a collection of songs, and that there is plenty of life left in David Byrne