DAVID BYRNE : WHO IS THE SKY

DAVID BYRNE WITH GHOST TRAIN ORCHESTRA : WHO IS THE SKY?

Everybody Laughs (with St. Vincent)
When We Are Singing
My Apartment Is My Friend
A Door Called No
What Is The Reason For It? (with Hayley Williams)
I Met The Buddha At A Downtown Party
Don't Be Like That
The Avant Garde
Moisturizing Thing
I'm An Outsider
She Explains Things To Me
The Truth

Label : Matador

Release Date : September 5, 2025

Length : 37:25

Review (Written In Music) : Muzikale alleseter David Byrne blijft solo een bijzonder songschrijver/performer die maar moeilijk bij te houden is. Sinds zijn dagen in Talking Heads duikt hij elk genre in waar hij liefde voor voelt (en die muzikale liefde gaat breed, heel breed) en weet deze stijlen steeds weer gloedvol in zijn eigen songs te vatten. Zijn laatste soloalbum American Utopia bevatte wederom een ware blend aan stijlen die in een hypermoderne en overweldigende live-setting een weergaloze vorm vonden. Ook het acht jaar later verschijnende Who Is the Sky? bevat zo’n gevarieerde blend aan stijlen en sferen. Voorzien van een enthousiasme en aanstekelijkheid die in deze rare tijden haast vreemd aanvoelt. Wat volslagen onzin is natuurlijk. Wat bij eerste beluistering gelijk al opvalt is hoe geweldig de songs weer in elkaar steken en hoe ongelooflijk goed en spannend de arrangementen zijn. Elke song heeft precies dat extra in instrumentatie dat ze boven zichzelf doet uitsteken. En Byrne is nog steeds geweldig bij stem. Begeleid door het 12-koppige Ghost Train Orchestra uit Brooklyn laat hij op Who Is the Sky? nog maar weer eens horen hoe groot zijn stempel op de muziekgeschiedenis is geweest. Die fijne diversiteit in stijlen en sferen werkt bij Byrne altijd zo goed omdat hij exact weet hoe deze in zijn songs te verwerken. Luister naar de mariachi invloeden in What Is The Reason For It?, de jaren 40 Hollywood musical stijl strijkers in A Door Called No, de Cuba vibes op Don’t Be Like That of de marimba-invloeden op albumopener Everybody Laughs. Zo knap hoe die aanvullingen de songs optimaal verrijken. Elke song kent sterke melodielijnen die in fraaie arrangementen even aanstekelijk als avontuurlijk werken. Luister naar The Avant Garde en je begrijpt wat ik bedoel. Maar heel weinig songschrijvers weten zoveel in een song te stoppen. En qua teksten blijft Byrne altijd bijzonder. Luister alleen al naar een song als Moisturizing Thing en wees verkocht. Bijzonder toffe song ook weer. Het album kent vele hoogtepunten waar het swingende When We Are Singing en I’m An Outsider het hart van zijn. Over de funky basis sprankelt een weergaloos arrangement boordevol verrassingen. My Apartment Is My Friend is Byrne in volle bloei. Briljante popsong. She Explains Things To Me is dan weer een prachtige liefdessong. Who Is the Sky? is gewoonweg een uitstekende liedjesplaat die juist in deze onrustige tijden voor mij extra goed werkt. En natuurlijk is ook dit album geen terugkeer naar die eerste vijf Talking Heads albums (nu echt maar eens daarover ophouden, zuurpruimen!) dat heeft hij sinds zijn eerste soloplaat Rei Momo nooit gedaan. En dat is maar goed ook! Wel heeft hij verspreid over zijn alweer 37 jaar durende solocarrière, vele handen vol geweldige popsongs geschreven en opgenomen die even effectief en energiek als vol emotie zijn. Who Is the Sky? maakt maar weer eens optimaal duidelijk wat een briljante songschrijver David Byrne toch is. Draai deze nieuwe Byrne twee keer achter elkaar en je bent er volledig aan verknocht.

Review (AllMusic) : David Byrne spent the better part of 50 years building his own wild and beautiful world of observational art pop. From his groundbreaking work with the Talking Heads into a decades-spanning solo discography, Byrne's songs have set intricate scenes from strange angles and used small, almost mundane starting points to explore larger feelings. Who Is the Sky? is another collection of Byrne's bright, narrative songwriting, elevated to new heights with smart orchestral arrangements from Ghost Train Orchestra. The album follows Byrne's 2018 LP American Utopia, which was expanded into a Broadway show, and much like American Utopia, the scenarios and characters laid out throughout Who Is the Sky? are inspections of the fears, frustrations, hopes, and expectations of American society circa the 2020s. In typical Byrne fashion, however, potentially heavy subjects are filtered through upbeat melodies and joyous instrumentation. The album kicks off with "Everybody Laughs," an anthem of universal commonalities driven by major-key acoustic guitar chords, hearty vocal harmonies, and eventually, a rich backing of strings, electro-acoustic percussion, and marching band instrumentation. It's a miniature carnival overflowing with life and positivity in the same way as some of Byrne's most memorable tunes from over the years. "My Apartment Is My Friend" is a lighthearted tribute to Byrne's home environment, with devotional lyrics humanizing the apartment supported by a stacked instrumental that moves through chamber pop, Morricone-esque soundtrack styles, and abstract electronic experimentation. Paramore's Hayley Williams adds some guest vocals to the fever-pitched, ballroom-ready "What Is the Reason for It?," and Tom Skinner, drummer of the Smile, and Byrne's longtime collaborator St. Vincent also make contributions to the album. The character of Who Is the Sky? is largely celebratory and playful. Byrne taps into his penchant for the absurd on the silly storytelling song "I Met the Buddha at a Downtown Party," questions the present state of a weird art scene he himself helped create on "The Avant Garde," and marvels at the wonders of skin care with the somewhat ridiculous "Moisturizing Thing." It's an album of high-spirited grooves and vibrant arrangements, even when Byrne is mulling over the perils of a modern age blighted by political division and technology that can be threatening as often as it is helpful. Much like the vast majority of his work, however, these songs are so fun, so triumphant, so full of life that it's easy to feel reassured by them, even when they investigate difficult realities.

Review (When The Horn Blows) : American Utopia healed us all in 2018 (and again in 2020 when we saw the film at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic), and now Byrne is back with Who is the Sky? – a madcap, eccentric album that just allows to sit back and let him have fun. Working with the Ghost Train Orchestra and drawing in the likes of St. Vincent, Hayley Williams, Tom Skinner off The Smile and Mauro Refosco, it’s a killer of an album. Everybody Laughs is a mission statement: “Everybody lives, dies, laughs, cries, sleeps and stares at the ceiling…” Byrne opens the titular track: a lot of singing and joyous melodies that flow together, it has a way of drawing everyone, no matter who you are and where you’re from, into a collective whole that resonates in a way that doesn’t feel cheesy but overbearingly honest and optimistic – a yearning for a community and a better place than we are in now. It’s Byrne asking not just who the sky is – but who we are, as people – and everything that comes because of that – after all, we all operate under the same sky and “everybody’s wearing everybody else’s shoes.” The album is about starting a new chapter for Byrne “when you turn the pages; I hear you call my name,” heralds the arrival of second song When We Are Singing, bookended by My Apartment is My Friend, a track about the isolation and the need of living in an apartment for escapism and familiarity. “you’ve seen me at my very worst / but we always get along” he says, demonstrating the need for the connectiveness of everybody and the desire to codify happiness amongst the despair. “you have witnessed my confusion,” he bookends with She Explains Things to Me, a lyric of the willingness to be listened to and talked at – in a softer, emotional commentary on the everyday sweetness of life and explaining movie details to someone you love in eccentric detail. This, and Everybody Laughs, are the roaring triumphs of the singles from the ex-Talking Heads frontman, a visionary artist in his own right – examining the dismissal of women’s perspectives by men and instead taking the time to bask in their awe and show how they should be held up and valued: it’s a spit-in-your face attitude that encourages us all to be above mansplaining and hold the values of communication in greater worth. In this case he says, “I am the one asking,” and for an age where most people have stopped giving a shit what people think about him; he has developed an ability to “step outside [his] comfort zone”. A Door Called No tells the story of doors being well, closed on Byrne till he meets a girl and they share a kiss – the yearning of love; their absolution – every sound, every stone – “the whole world is yes” – there’s a touch of earnest simplicity about the lyrics and their themes that make them so infectiously likeable and hard to ignore. Much like What is the Reason For It? (about the feelings of love and how they can make you feel like someone else) “is it my body or my brain?” Byrne asks – working with Hayley Williams for an affectionally charged song that showcases the vocals of both artists at their unmatched best – both sharing similar pasts as ex-frontpeople of bands, trying something new and succeeding. I Met the Budda at a Downtown Party, continues that free-flowing tale of fun – Byrne encounters the Budda stuffing his face with pastries and having conversation about the nature of eating unhealthy food given his enlightened status; but the Budda’s response encourages the theme of Byrne’s need to stop listening to critics and embrace what he does best, work without the need to conform to critics – encouraging him to join him eating his blueberry tart. It’s joy – Byrne has never been one to follow trends, and he’s happy, like the Budda in the song; doing his own thing and thriving off the back of that – because after all, neither of them exist so why does it really matter? The album is free-flowing, entertaining and just a pure escape from reality that the world needs right now – Byrne has found a way to recapture the magic that American Utopia brought to the table and follow up that effortless vibes that highlight just how unexplainable love is and enlightenment means very different things to very different people; but it’s always a good idea to moisturize regardless of the skin that you have in the morning or not. It’s the blend between the surreal and the real – pop and something more (The Avant Garde pokes fun at his embracement of the genre and how he likes the idea but doesn’t really understand it) – but never with an attitude that looks down at the genre, operating within its sphere. It’s an exploration of human connection that guides us all – optimistic and endearing encouraging a need of social connection amongst us all – and the world would be a lot weaker place without it; or Byrne – operating solo without the need for a Talking Heads reunion. One of the strongest records of 2025 is here – and you’d be surprised if it was from anyone else.

Review (Record Collector) : Where does that highway go to? In the case of David Byrne, now 73 and a revered solo artist and professional aesthete 35 years after Talking Heads split, it’s led to a probably ineradicable status as one of rock’s key figures. To his generation, his part in pioneering new wave, merging punk, funk and world music and generally never showing fear of art has been colossal, spilling into film and literature. To Olivia Rodrigo’s generation, after joining her onstage recently, he’s that slightly creepy white-haired great-uncle in red dungarees who can’t dance, and came across as a wacky, zany, Pee Wee Herman-type figure. But they’ll conclude that if Olivia thinks he’s cool, like that other elderly guy from The Cure, then he must be. His post-everything solo work hit another peak with 2018’s American Utopia, which sold well and, despite initially hesitant reviews, was embraced when subsequent live adaptations had him again doing new things, with commitment and intelligence. Much is expected then of his first in seven years. Who Is The Sky? mostly remains true to something he said in Stop Making Sense – “I try to write about small things. Paper, animals, a house… love is kind of big”. Until it doesn’t, and on the mariachi-tinged What Is The Reason For It? he asks all about love, or at least what we talk about when we talk about it. His writing voice is in the tradition of “knowing” US authors like Dave Eggers or Miranda July, although, on reflection, they’d likely say he influenced them. Deftly dry, calculatedly unemotional, he affects the demeanour of the deadpan who fell to Earth. Whether his belief that he’s on the autism spectrum played or plays a part in his choices and reactions to modern life has been much debated: on Who Is The Sky?, he leans into the faux-naive observer role. The music, however, is less ambivalent. It is almost unrelentingly cheerful, sunny and optimistic. That’s his thing these days. Using the New York ensemble Ghost Train Orchestra as his house band results in a cross between light chamber music and a rat-a-tat-tat of mock calypso, reggae, soca and other sounds popular at Notting Hill Carnival. You want guitars? Electronica? Wrong floor pal – this is, like, trombones, bassoons and marimbas. When it works, it recalls a very specific era of Paul Simon’s career. When it doesn’t, lapsing into “fun”-saturated fatigue, it’s as far away from CBGB as was Blondie’s The Tide Is High. Which wasn’t a bad record per se, but nobody would claim it was that band’s best. (See also: 10cc’s Dreadlock Holiday.) Some of this will be too saccharine and upbeat for a portion of Talking Heads fans. To be frank, there are spells where, lyrics aside, it’s no more elevated or imaginative than – hot references incoming – Matthew Wilder’s Break My Stride or Rupert Holmes’ Escape (The Pina Colada Song). And Byrne’s vocals skid off track on When We Are Singing, wilfully flat and out of time to the point where one decides he must know what he’s doing. His is a voice that’s all about the character, the persona, as are those of many of rock’s best anti-singers, yet the dazzling grin of this music leaves him exposed in a way that the urgency of Talking Heads didn’t. The necessary irony doesn’t always come across. Archness and tartness is still valued over “authenticity” of course, and, like Sparks, he can suggest laughter and bitterness at once. The production, by Harry Styles, Kings Of Leon and Florence + The Machine collaborator Kid Harpoon – there’s no Eno this time – is energetic, and guest appearances by frequent comrade St Vincent, Paramore’s Hayley Williams (whose “proper” singing humanises his chilliness) and Tom Skinner of The Smile add shade. Somehow, though, it all feels at one remove, as if behind gauze, the science of it handcuffing its art. As can be the case with Elvis Costello, Byrne’s conscious cerebral filter, the very brain that is his strength, sometimes causes a distancing effect, blocking the connection with the listener’s emotions it so evidently desires. Who Is The Sky? is essentially 12 three-minute songs channelling the humorous stylings of James Thurber, loaded with “kooky” quirks which evoke Steve Carell declaring “I love lamp” in Anchorman. It gradually opens out into that admission that Byrne is smitten. He even, just about, concedes that that’s a good thing, albeit after some back-and-forth probing. Prior to that, the album’s fuelled by what you might call existential gaiety. Everybody Laughs beams and bubbles but acknowledges mortality; in My Apartment Is My Friend he serenades his abode, thanking it for its discretion. A Door Called No becomes a “yes” when he is kissed. I Met The Buddha At A Downtown Party – “he was hanging by the pastries and the canapes” – seems smug about its title, but does question the nature of reality. There’s a Bo Diddley rhythm, no more no less, on Don’t Be Like That, while The Avant Garde is, fittingly, as close as the album’s music gets to being dark or intriguing or Lou Reed-ish. “It’s deceptively weighty, profoundly absurd”. On Moisturizing Thing, a face cream makes him look like a three-year-old (other Black Mirror out-takes are available), while She Explains Things To Me eulogises his womansplaining partner’s patience and takes the foot off the gas on the maximum jolliness pedal. That pedal’s to the metal again as a steel band sound steers The Truth (although its “Norma Shearer” reference might send bemused Olivia Rodrigo fans racing to Wikipedia). Byrne isn’t on fire here: while the songs do sometimes deal with biggish issues with elan, the music’s just too merry, too jovial. Of course, that contrast is deliberate, but – perhaps it’s the times we live in – it feels pat in context, even glib. A man can’t be criticised for being happy and loosening up, for feeling he’s made his statements and deserves a stroll in the sun, and nobody’s asking for witless gloom. But we no longer live in a utopia, if we ever did, and a major talent like his could be digging deeper, asking himself, “How do I work this?” and reaching for that sky.