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Aug 13, 2025 By Mark Redfern Photography by Shervin Lainez

David Byrne is releasing a new album, Who Is the Sky?, September 5 via Matador. Now the former Talking Heads frontman has shared its third single, “The Avant Garde.” Listen below.

Byrne had this to say about the song in a press release: “Some people will hear this and say, ‘David is calling bullshit on his friends’ but it’s more nuanced than that. Anyone who knows me knows that I go to plenty of shows that might be classified as avant-garde or experimental. Edgy and untraditional work is hugely inspiring to me, as it often changes the way I think and influences what I do (without me simply appropriating the ideas, I hope). That said, trying something unproven and radically new is risky. Sometimes, as with anything risky, it doesn’t quite hit the bullseye. There’s no guarantee that it will achieve what it aims to do, but when it does, the emotional and intellectual rewards are worth it. That is the risk one takes while making something new and unconventional. So yes, there are times when it doesn’t mean shit, but often there are times when something wholly original comes into being and it’s all worth it. I love that the Ghost Train folks and Kid Harpoon took what could have been a fairly conventional song I’d written (musically at least), and steered it into something that to me sounds like Led Zeppelin meets Dirty Projectors.”

Previously Byrne shared its first single, “Everybody Laughs,” via a music video. It was one of our Songs of the Week. Then he shared its second single, “She Explains Things to Me,” which also landed on Songs of the Week.

Who Is the Sky? features St. Vincent, Paramore’s Hayley Williams, and The Smile’s Tom Skinner.

Kid Harpoon (Harry Styles, Miley Cyrus) produced the album and members of New York-based chamber ensemble Ghost Train Orchestra arranged the songs. Byrne’s last album was 2018’s American Utopia, which became a Broadway show and a performance film directed by Spike Lee.

Byrne saw Ghost Train Orchestra live and was inspired to get them involved in the album. Ghost Train Orchestra leader Brian Carpenter says: “David sent me some demos and asked us to put together some orchestral ideas. Curtis Hasselbring and I quickly wrote a couple rough draft arrangements of his songs for Ghost Train, including ‘My Apartment Is My Friend,’ which was the first song we rehearsed at our tiny rehearsal space in Chinatown. To hear him singing with us for the first time on that song was just incredible.”

Byrne then met Kid Harpoon (aka Tom Hull) at a party when introduced by a mutual friend. “Sometimes things do happen at parties,” says Byrne. “I knew this could all get complicated and I also wanted to be sure the recordings sounded as good as possible. An outside set of ears can be super helpful. A few artists I knew had worked with Kid Harpoon, and I thought those records sounded really good.”

Kid Harpoon adds: “It took me a second to realize, oh yeah, these songs are personal, but with David’s unique perspective on life in general. Walking around New York listening to the demo of ‘Everybody Laughs’ was so joyous, because it made me feel like we’re all the same—we all laugh, cry and sing. The thing about David that resonates with a lot of people is that he’s in on the joke. He gets the absurdity of it all, and all of these personal observations are his perspective on it.”

Summing up Who Is the Sky?, Byrne says: “At my age, at least for me, there’s a ‘don’t give a shit about what people think’ attitude that kicks in. I can step outside my comfort zone with the knowledge that I kind of know who I am by now and sort of know what I’m doing. That said, every new set of songs, every song even, is a new adventure. There’s always a bit of, ‘how do I work this?’ I’ve found that not every collaboration works, but often when they do, it’s because I’m able to clearly impart what it is I’m trying to do. They hopefully get that, and as a result, we’re now joined together heading to the same unknown place.”

Talking Heads recently released the first ever music video for their 1977 hit “Psycho Killer,” starring actress Saoirse Ronan (Little Women, Lady Bird, Brooklyn).

Byrne also recently joined Olivia Rodrigo during her set at New York’s Governors Ball festival where they did a spited and playful cover of Talking Heads’ classic “Burning Down the House.”

Read our 2020 interview with David Byrne.

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