David Byrne’s Endless Art Pop Visions Stay Strongly Relevant With ‘Who Is the Sky?’ (ALBUM REVIEW)

David Byrne has always acted like an outsider, singing/writing about the mundane with an alien-landed-on-Earth, like fascination. On his newest album, Who Is the Sky? Byrne has a song titled “I’m an Outsider”. The smooth grooving jam could be about finding mystical connections deep in the mind or wondering what is inside an exclusive club he rode his bike by in downtown NYC. The beauty with Byrne is that it rarely matters.  

His ninth solo studio album, complete with psychedelic cover art that previews the circus within, arrives after his late-career commercial success, American Utopia, which spawned a Broadway show, a Spike Lee-directed documentary, and loads of touring. On Who Is the Sky? Byrne finds his open-hearted writing mixing with his world music sensibilities, all filtered through an aging art-pop vision.   

Working with Kid Harpoon (Harry Styles, Jessie Ware) as producer and Ghost Train Orchestra for backing, Byrne’s sound is large and extremely polished throughout. Layers of outlandish sounds and instrumentation can pile up at times, and some of the songs can be hit or miss, but one thing remains constant: Byrne’s vocals. Perhaps some age or scruff would add new dimensions to the 73-year-old Byrne’s songs, but his pristine singing is the same as it ever was. 

The best offering is the opening “Everybody Laughs”, a track imbued with a pure humanistic spirit that is joyous to behold. Off-kilter, funky, amped-up horns, strings, and popping percussion all support Byrne’s bright singing about commonalities on the top-notch track. “When We Are Singing” continues the ‘we are all in this together’ motif with strings, horns, and loops; it also finds Byrne vocalizing in bizarre fashion, which he also pulls out during the otherwise headbopping “Don’t Be Like That”. 

The weirdness doesn’t end there. “Moisturizing Thing” takes skincare to horror movie levels, and “The Avant Garde” directly critiques the art scene, vacillating between guitars and twinkling keys. For other artists, these types of topics and oddball musical approach may feel forced, but with Byrne, it is just par for the course as he continues to craft love songs about buildings, in this case, one directly titled “My Apartment Is My Friend”. 

He also once again tackles watching television which evolves into matters of the heart on the swelling “She Explains Things” and for an artist who once (unironically) released an exhibit titled “I Heart PowerPoint” he tries to dissect love on a clinical level with Paramore’s Hayley Williams on “What Is The Reason For It?” which delivers a killer driving beat and blaring trumpet. The hyperkinetic Byrne has a hard time sitting still musically, and the Ghost Train Orchestra is a solid match for him to scratch various sonic itches.  

Byrne always walks the fine line with his art-pop between pretentious and affecting, but thankfully, he always invests heavily in the almighty groove and some humor. Tracks like “Door Says No”evokes a range of emotions, and the quirky “I Met the Buddha at a Downtown Party” skillfully blends tasty desserts with spirituality and the mystery of life, all set to a cool beat.         

David Byrne invokes the terms ‘everything’, and ‘everybody’ often, searching for universal connection in an increasingly divided and isolated world. This alone is admirable, but pairing that feeling with strange tunes that engage hips and minds, all while singing like he did 45 years ago, pushes other complaints about Who Is the Sky? to the fringes.