David Byrne, our mad art pop grandfather, is back with Who Is The Sky?, a new batch of songs to blast a bit of colour into our grim world—continuing some type of crusade he started way back in 1975 with Talking Heads. Yes, at 73, Byrne is showing no signs of slowing down, and the world is better for it. This time, enlisting the help of the New York R&B soul powerhouse, Ghost Funk Orchestra, his friend, Annie Clark (better known as St. Vincent), Paramore’s Hayley Williams, and The Smile’s drummer, Tom Skinner, Byrne has struck weird and wonderful gold. 

On his 2018 comeback album, American Utopia, Byrne went hard, pushing out his positive message with a play, a crazy theatrical live show, a film, and the album, exhausting himself. Now, it sounds like he is truly back with Who Is The Sky? and having a hell of a lot of fun. 

Music has become so serious, and nothing right now sounds like it has pure joy infused in it anymore. I can picture Byrne dancing a samba vibe on “What Is The Reason For It?” as St. Vincent sings of mariachi-tinged, psychedelic love. The satiric “I Met The Buddha at a Downtown Party” feels like reading an excerpt of a William S. Burroughs novel, and I’m finally wanting to dance like an idiot as some lively horn music bounces to and fro. It’s hard not to at least chuckle as Byrne roars out a line like “Have a piece of this blueberry tarrrttt.” With the Grammy-winning Kid Harpoon on producing duties, we are getting an unhinged Byrne (the best kind) on songs like the indietronica “My Apartment is my Friend,” the crime noir new wave “The Avant Garde,” or the hilarious “Moisturizing Thing,” as Byrne sings about people’s need for faux beauty and imagines a moisturizing cream that turns him into a baby. Again, Ghost Funk Orchestra’s horn section leads the grooving, foot-tapping vibe. 

Byrne’s lyrics are always questioning the reason why things are the way they are. Why is coffee black? Why do we exist? His surreal, introspective ramblings on the mundanity of the world have always separated him from his contemporaries. We’re lucky he’s still at it.