'American Utopia' will arrive on March 9 through Todomundo/Nonesuch Records and marks his first solo record since 2004's 'Grown Backwards'. Speaking about it, the Talking Heads frontman said:
Is this meant ironically? Is it a joke? Do I mean this seriously? In what way? Am I referring to the past or the future? Is it personal or political?
These songs don’t describe an imaginary or possibly impossible place but rather attempt to depict the world we live in now. Many of us, I suspect, are not satisfied with that world—the world we have made for ourselves. We look around and we ask ourselves—well, does it have to be like this? Is there another way? These songs are about that looking and that asking.
This album is indirectly about those aspirational impulses. Sometimes to describe is to reveal, to see other possibilities. To ask a question is to begin the process of looking for an answer. To be descriptive is also to be prescriptive, in a way. The act of asking is a big step. The songs are sincere—the title is not ironic. The title refers not to a specific utopia, but rather to our longing, frustration, aspirations, fears, and hopes regarding what could be possible, what else is possible. The description, the discontent and the desire—I have a feeling that is what these songs touch on.
I have no prescriptions or surefire answers, but I sense that I am not the only one looking and asking, wondering and still holding onto some tiny bit of hope, unwilling to succumb entirely to despair or cynicism.
It’s not easy, but music helps. Music is a kind of model—it often tells us or points us toward how we can be.
Head below to check out the album's penultimate track, Everybody’s Coming To My House, which was co-written with Brian Eno, and features contributions from TTY, Happa Isaiah Barr (Onyx Collective), and Sampha, among others.
'American Utopia' tracklist:
I Dance Like This
Gasoline And Dirty Sheets
Every Day Is A Miracle
Dog’s Mind
This Is That
It’s Not Dark Up Here
Bullet
Doing The Right Thing
Everybody’s Coming To My House
Here
The record will be accompanied by a world tour that consist of a choreographed concert that Byrne has called “the most ambitious show I’ve done since the shows that were filmed for Stop Making Sense.” There have already been a batch of headline US shows announced, along with a long list of festival appearances. Additional dates are due to be announced soon.
David Byrne Upcoming Tour Dates are as follows
Sat March 03 2018 - RED BANK New Jersey - Count Basie Theatre (USA)
Sun March 04 2018 - WILKES BARRE Pennsylvania - Kirby Center For The Performing Art (USA)
Tue March 06 2018 - BUFFALO New York - Center for the Arts (USA)
Wed March 07 2018 - HERSHEY Pennsylvania - Hershey Theatre (USA)
Fri March 09 2018 - WATERBURY Connecticut - Palace Theater (USA)
Sat March 10 2018 - KINGSTON New York - Ulster Performing Arts Center (USA)
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