And when we go there you will observe
It’s a passionate life, it’s a head of a curve
It’s deceptively weighty, profoundly absurd
Well, it’s whatever fits
Somewhere between an art prank, a confessional aside, and a perfectly timed shoulder shrug, David Byrne lobs a timeless question into the ether: Who Is The Sky? – an album title that arrives like a riddle wrapped in a dare, served with a sly half-smile to anyone who still clings to the notion that pop music ought to be something you wrestle with. The record lands in just over three weeks, but before it does, Byrne tosses out The Avant Garde, a song about believing in the idea of avant-garde art while quietly suspecting you might not actually enjoy enduring it.
We’ve all worn that mask: nodding along (or off) during desiccated art history lectures; politely enduring a baffling evening of performance art, or, just as suddenly, finding ourselves possessed and leading a conga line to Day-O (The Banana Boat Song). We want to appear as if we get it: the intent, the method, the grand statement…when, in truth, sometimes it’s smoke and mirrors, and sometimes there’s simply nothing there at all, like the Emperor’s New Clothes. Part of the game is the theatre of appreciation; and when that spark isn’t present, the whole charade collapses. Byrne, in his own puckish way, writes the sort of tune that would have had the art school faculty coughing into their sherry.
With The Ghost Train Orchestra in tow, The Avant Garde sidles in with melodic feints and gentle ruptures before bursting into a chorus like a draught of cold air through a room crammed with arcane diagrams. Byrne is back at his trick mirrors, refracting questions he knows might never find an answer. For instance: is art that is made solely to be seen as art devoid of value, or is there some intrinsic value in the act of creation, regardless of its intentions?
Byrne seems happy to live in the ambiguity, letting the answer be both, neither, or something entirely absurd, because perhaps creation doesn’t need a manifesto to exist. The delivery carries a knowing wink, invoking the satirical playbooks of The Divine Comedy and They Might Be Giants.
“Some people will hear this and say, ‘David is calling bullshit on his friends,’ but it’s more nuanced than that,” Byrne says. “Anyone who knows me knows that I go to plenty of shows that might be classified as avant-garde or experimental… Trying something unproven and radically new is risky… 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.”
Listen below:
This is Byrne’s first LP since American Utopia in 2018, conjured with producer Kid Harpoon and guest apparitions from Hayley Williams, St. Vincent, and Tom Skinner of The Smile. Now in a phase where, as he puts it, “there’s a ‘don’t give a shit about what people think’ attitude,” Byrne treats each song as its own leap into the fog. “Every new set of songs, every song even, is a new adventure… we’re now joined together heading to the same unknown place.”
Byrne’s world tour opens September 30 at Radio City Music Hall and runs into March—a kind of travelling gallery where Byrne hangs the new beside the old, careful not to tip the balance into heritage-act embalming. “If you do too much of the older material,” he says, “you become a legacy act… You cash in really quick, but then you’ve dug yourself a hole.”
The question remains, as it must: Who is the sky? Byrne will hum it, bend it, dance around it. The answer, if there is one, will arrive when you’re looking somewhere else.
Listen to The Avant-Garde below and pre-order Who Is The Sky? here.
Catch David Byrne on his world tour:
- 09/14/2025 – Providence, RI – Veterans Memorial Auditorium
- 09/16/2025 – Pittsburgh, PA – Benedum Center PAC
- 09/17/2025 – Columbus, OH – Mershon Auditorium
- 09/19/2025 – Akron, OH – Akron Civic Theatre
- 09/21/2025 – Schenectady, NY – Proctors
- 09/23/2025 – Syracuse, NY – Landmark Theatre
- 09/25/2025 – Buffalo, NY – Shea’s Buffalo Theatre
- 09/27/2025 – Washington D.C. – The Anthem
- 09/28/2025 – Washington D.C. – The Anthem
- 09/30/2025 – New York, NY – Radio City Music Hall
- 10/01/2025 – New York, NY – Radio City Music Hall
- 10/02/2026 – Boston, MA – Boch Center Wang Theatre
- 10/03/2025 – Boston, MA – Boch Center Wang Theatre
- 10/04/2025 – Boston, MA – Boch Center Wang Theatre
- 10/07/2025 – Wallingford, CT – Toyota Oakdale Theatre
- 10/08/2025 – Portland, ME – Merrill Auditorium at City Hall
- 10/10/2025 – New York, NY – Radio City Music Hall
- 10/11/2025 – New York, NY – Radio City Music Hall
- 10/14/2025 – Richmond, VA – Altria Theater
- 10/16/2025 – Philadelphia, PA – The Met Philadelphia presented by Highmark
- 10/17/2025 – Philadelphia, PA – The Met Philadelphia presented by Highmark
- 10/18/2025 – Philadelphia, PA – The Met Philadelphia presented by Highmark
- 10/21/2025 – Toronto, ON, Canada – Massey Hall
- 10/22/2025 – Toronto, ON, Canada – Massey Hall
- 10/23/2025 – Toronto, ON, Canada – Massey Hall
- 10/25/2025 – Detroit, MI – Fox Theatre
- 10/28/2025 – Chicago, IL – The Auditorium
- 10/29/2025 – Chicago, IL – The Auditorium
- 10/31/2025 – Chicago, IL – The Auditorium
- 11/01/2025 – Chicago, IL – The Auditorium
- 11/03/2025 – Minneapolis, MN – Orpheum Theatre
- 11/04/2025 – Minneapolis, MN – Orpheum Theatre
- 11/06/2025 – Denver, CO – Bellco Theatre
- 11/07/2025 – Denver, CO – Bellco Theatre
- 11/11/2025 – Seattle, WA – Paramount Theatre
- 11/12/2025 – Seattle, WA – Paramount Theatre
- 11/13/2025 – Seattle, WA – Paramount Theatre
- 11/16/2025 – San Francisco, CA – The Theater at Bill Graham Civic Auditorium
- 11/17/2025 – San Francisco, CA – The Theater at Bill Graham Civic Auditorium
- 11/18/2025 – San Francisco, CA – The Theater at Bill Graham Civic Auditorium
- 11/20/2025 – Los Angeles, CA – Dolby Theatre
- 11/21/2025 – Los Angeles, CA – Dolby Theatre
- 11/25/2025 – Austin, TX – Bass Concert Hall
- 11/26/2025 – Austin, TX – Bass Concert Hall
- 11/28/2025 – Dallas, TX – Music Hall at Fair Park
- 11/29/2025 – Dallas, TX – Music Hall at Fair Park
- 12/02/2025 – Atlanta, GA – Fox Theatre
- 12/03/2025 – Atlanta, GA – Fox Theatre
- 12/05/2025 – Miami, FL – Fillmore Miami Beach At Jackie Gleason Theatre
- 12/06/2025 – Miami, FL – Fillmore Miami Beach At Jackie Gleason Theatre
Australia & New Zealand:
- 01/14/2026 – Auckland, New Zealand – Spark Arena
- 01/17/2026 – Brisbane, Australia – Brisbane Entertainment Center
- 01/21/2026 – Sydney, Australia – ICC Sydney Theatre
- 01/22/2026 – Melbourne, Australia – Sidney Myer Music Bowl
- 01/24/2026 – Adelaide, Australia – Adelaide Entertainment Centre Arena
- 01/27/2026 – Perth, Australia – RAC Arena
Europe & United Kingdom:
- 02/12/2026 – Berlin, Germany – Tempodrom
- 02/15/2026 – Amsterdam, Netherlands – AFAS Live
- 02/16/2026 – Amsterdam, Netherlands – AFAS Live
- 02/18/2026 – Brussels, Belgium – Forest National
- 02/21/2026 – Milan, Italy – Teatro degli Arcimboldi
- 02/22/2026 – Milan, Italy – Teatro degli Arcimboldi
- 02/24/2026 – Frankfurt, Germany – Jahrhunderthalle
- 02/26/2026 – Esch-sur-Alzette, Luxembourg – Rockhal Main Hall
- 02/27/2026 – Zurich, Switzerland – The Hall
- 03/02/2026 – Cardiff, UK – Utilita Arena
- 03/03/2026 – London, UK – Eventim Apollo
- 03/04/2026 – London, UK – Eventim Apollo
- 03/06/2026 – Glasgow, UK – SEC Armadillo
- 03/07/2026 – Glasgow, UK – SEC Armadillo
- 03/09/2026 – Manchester, UK – o2 Apollo
- 03/10/2026 – Manchester, UK – o2 Apollo
- 03/11/2026 – Manchester, UK – o2 Apollo
- 03/13/2026 – Dublin, Ireland – 3Arena
- 03/15/2026 – London, UK – Eventim Apollo
- 03/16/2026 – London, UK – Eventim Apollo
- 03/18/2026 – Paris, France – La Seine Musicale
- 03/19/2026 – Paris, France – La Seine Musicale
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