Mexican Cuisine, Orchestral Sounds & ‘Mutual Appreciation’ of New Generation: How David Byrne Created His ‘Who Is the Sky?’ Album

David Byrne tested his cooking skills portion gathering ideas for the songs that ended up successful his latest album, Who Is the Sky?

“I should get retired my cookbook and archer you what recipes I tried. Of course, I knew however to marque a precise accepted mole, the acheronian one,” Byrne tells Billboard Español successful notation to mole negro during a video telephone from his location successful Brooklyn, New York.

The British-American musician, producer, avant-garde stone pioneer and intelligence shares that helium chiefly cooked Mexican and Indian dishes during the pandemic, erstwhile the archetypal notes of the tracks included successful his archetypal medium since the acclaimed American Utopia (2018) began to instrumentality shape.

“I learned however to marque tortillas, not truthful bully astatine first. I decided, ‘OK, I’m going to effort possibly for wellness not utilizing the lard abdominous successful the tortilla and spot if I tin enactment thing other in,'” continues the 73-year-old artist. “But it didn’t enactment retired truthful astatine all. So I had to spell backmost to the much accepted method.”

When it comes to music, though, the erstwhile Talking Heads frontman ne'er follows a accepted method. Who is the Sky?, released Sept. 5 nether Matador Records, features 12 songs arsenic colorful arsenic the album’s screen art. The rhythms utilized crook Byrne’s dependable into yet different instrumentality successful these subtle melodies, infused with avant-pop touches and orchestral textures. The lyrics are characterized by their ironic but ever intelligent consciousness of humor. “Everybody Laughs,” with sublime backing vocals from St. Vincent, offers a joyful and hopeful moment.

For this project, Byrne enlisted Grammy-winning shaper Kid Harpoon (Harry Styles, Miley Cyrus), telling him, “I privation this to beryllium a good-sounding, accessible record, but I besides privation to bash thing a small spot unusual.” The orchestral arrangements, meanwhile, are courtesy of the New York-based enclosure ensemble Ghost Train Orchestra. “I heard a grounds [from them] I conjecture successful 2023 — a grounds of compositions and songs by a feline named Moondog, who was benignant of a thoroughfare writer and helium wrote truly beauteous music,” helium explains. “They did an mentation of his music. I truly liked it.”

Longtime friends and caller collaborators — including Paramore’s Hayley Williams connected “What Is the Reason for It?”, drummer Tom Skinner from The Smile and percussionist Mauro Refosco from American Utopia — besides lend to the album.

Byrne and St. Vincent — whose existent sanction is Annie Clark — antecedently collaborated connected the 2012 medium Love This Giant, with astir of the songs co-written by the two. “She was ever doing truly absorbing things and she lived conscionable a fewer blocks from the workplace wherever I was, truthful I called her up and said, ‘Annie, tin you travel by for conscionable a small while, possibly sing connected a song?'” Byrne says. “And we had a large time. She did great. She wanted to bash more, but she had to get backmost to her baby.”

Collaborating with younger musicians has ...