David Byrne: the first single from the new album, then a tour

“Who is the sky?“It is the title of New album In the studio of David Byrne, the first work of unpublished solo solo of the frontman of the Talking Heads from “American Utopia” of 2018. The album will be released on September 5 and is already anticipated by a singleentitled “Everybody Laughs“And accompanied by the video reported below. But the surprises do not end here: together with the new album, Byrne announced a world tour which will take him next year In concert also in Italy for two dates in Milan.

The new album “Who is the sky?”, produced by Kid Harpoonalready winner of Grammy for work with Harry Styles and Miley Cyrus, includes 12 songs Arranged by the Ghost Train Orchestra, Ensemble Cameristic of New York. Long -date and new collaborators appear on the album collaborations: From St. Vincent to Hayley Williams of the Paramore, from the drummer of The Smile Tom Skinner to Mauro Refosco, percussionist of “American Utopia”.

“A person I know said to me: ‘David, you often use the word Everybody’. Maybe I do it to offer an anthropological vision of life in New York. Everyone lives, die, laugh, cry, sleep and fix the ceiling,” explained David Byrne in a statement about the new single: “Everyone puts themselves in the shoes of others, which is not really true, but yes. I tried to sing these things, even the negative onescounterbalanced them with the melody and the groove. Towards the end, when St. Vincent and I scream and sing together, there is something liberating. Music can do this: contain opposites “.

Manufacturer Kid Harpoon added: “It took me for a moment to understand that yes, these songs are personal, but with the unmistakable perspective of David. Walking through New York listening to the demo of ‘Everybody Laughs’ made me feel part of a whole. We all laugh, we cry, sing. David captures the absurdity of life and this is reflected in people”. world tour to support “Who is the sky?” It will start on September 14th from Providence, Rhode Island, with 13 musicians, singers and dancers. European concerts will begin at the end of February 2026 with Two dates also in MilanThe 21 and 22 February at the Teatro degli Arcimboldi. THE tickets For Italian dates, Mastercard will be available from 10 am on Wednesday 11 June and in presale Mylivenation from 10 on Thursday 12 June. The general sale will then open at 10 on Friday 13 June.

As we read in a press release, Byrne began to put together musical and lyrical ideas while in 2023 the era of “American Utopia” came to an end After albums, tours, Broadway and a film directed by Spike Lee. “During the previous three years I cooked a lot (especially Mexican and Indian dishes) and designed a lot”, explained the 73 -year -old musician: “I started to accumulate phrases and musical ideas … in the end they were born rudimentary songs: only me with acoustic guitar and some loops or beats”. From the questions that David Byrne asked himself at that period of pause, then the title “Who is the sky?”I like what I do? Why do I write songs or do this job? Do you really make sense?“, The artist wondered, whose attempts to answer those questions are now found in his new album, which develops from the optimistic issues introduced by” American Utopia “and the relative tour.

The press release then warns that “With this new work, Byrne continues his exploration of a whole life of the concept of human connection and potential for a social unionon the chaotic background of the world. ‘Who is the sky?’ It is particularly cinematic, ironic and joyful, but often it also contains an implicit morality: that love is inexplicable, that lighting means very different things for different people and that hydrating is always a good idea, even if in the morning after you don’t wake up with the skin of a newborn baby. Above all, the songs show Byrne’s talent in moving on the wire between avant -garde and accessible pop “.

David Byrne has decided to involve the Ghost Train Orchestra After listening to their 2023 tribute album to the blind composer and New York road poet Moondog. “David sent us some demos and asked us to elaborate orchestral ideas,” says Brian Carpenter, leader of the orchestra: “I and I Curtis Hasselbring quickly wrote a couple of provisional arrangements of his songs for the Ghost Train, including ‘My Apartment is my friend’, which was the first song that we tried in our tiny space in Chinatown. Hearing him sing with us for the first time on that song was simply incredible“.

According to Byrne, adds the press release, In “Who is the sky?” There are “more songs-not the usual”. These “mini-not based on personal experiences” include “She Explains Things to me” (towards example: “How as it’s all so obvious to Her?”), “A door called no” (which opens magically after byrne receives a kiss), “My apartment is my friend” (“You’ve seen me at my very worst / butt / but We Always Get Along “, sings him) and” I Met the Buddha At a Downtown Party “(in which the former spiritual guru is more interested in hypercaloric sweets than in deification). Marked by the careactive vocal intertwining between Byrne and Hayley Williams of the Paramore, the lively “What is the Reason for it?” He tries to codify love in a way that logic rarely manages to do (“does it do something useful? Fits “) – an observation by one of the most iconoclastic artists that emerged from the New York underground rock scene.

“I suspected that intimate orchestral arrangements would have brought out the emotion I perceived in these songs“, Said Byrne:“ It is something that people do not always associate with my work, but this time I was sure it was there. At the same time, I also see myself as someone who aspires to be accessible. Since there was a lot of meat on fire, I imagined that Kid Harpoon could also help in this, as well as being a trusted ear. People think of producers as those who make a record sound well – and Kid Harpoon also did this – but he was also very aware of how important the narration was “.

Here you are The tracklist and cover of “Who is the sky?“:

1. ‘Everybody Laughs’
2. ‘When we are singing’
3. ‘My Apartment is my friend’
4. ‘A door Called no’
5. ‘What is the Reason for it?’ With Hayley Williams
6. ‘Met the Buddha at a downtown party’
7. ‘Don’t be like that’
8. ‘The Avant Garde’
9. ‘Moisturizing Thing’
10. ‘I’m an outsider’
11. ‘She Explains Things to me’
12. ‘The Truth’