David Byrne returns, even crazier, on “Who Is the Sky?”
The former Talking Heads singer is as radiant as ever. Returning this September 5th with “Who Is the Sky?”, David Byrne is entertaining British critics, delighted to find him even more exuberant than on his previous album.
At 73, David Byrne is still going strong and crazier than ever. The Scottish-born musician, former frontman of the legendary American band Talking Heads, is back on September 5 with a new solo album, his first in seven years. For the British daily The Times , “Who Is the Sky? marks a clear rise in madness, to the point of suggesting that, soon on TV, a David Byrne puppet will teach children numbers and colors.”
And for this new exuberant pop rock adventure, David Byrne collaborated with Harry Styles' producer, Kid Harpoon, and the New York ensemble Ghost Train Orchestra, to offer "a farandole of songs that arrive like a carnival and set up shop at your door in their costumes, each one more delirious than the last," continues The Times. With, as a "common theme, the need for connection, exchange, understanding." A nice program in short to welcome autumn as it should be.
David Byrne presents a face as sunny as ever. While the year 2025 has been very dark so far, “it's easy to see why Byrne is so convinced that the world needs positive, joyful vibes, and Who Is the Sky? is a great success,” abounds The Guardian . Thus, the opus is peppered with meows, and “the general tone is one of jest, which works when the jokes are funny,” writes this other British daily.
On the track Moisturizing Thing, the septuagenarian sings about the benefits of an anti-aging cream so effective it makes you look like a child, and on My Apartment Is My Friend he declares his love for his apartment.
A typical humor of the Scotsman turned American, who uses it “to slip in some well-felt opinions,” explains The Scotsman . Once again, David Byrne “excels at mixing the marvelous and the unusual into a unique and accessible pop,” applauds the Scottish newspaper.
While The Guardian has some reservations, he's still waiting to see how it performs live, as the previous album, 2018's American Utopia , was good before it became excellent live, he points out. Who Is the Sky? could well share the same fate.
