It’s a fairly common misconception.
If you mention David Byrne to the average music fan, changes are they’ll sing ‘Once In A Lifetime’ or bring up the amazing expanding suit from ‘Stop Making Sense’. Truth is, though, that Byrne’s solo career contains just as many about turns, shock departures and probing searches as his work with the illustrious New York quartet.
So news that David Byrne and Annie Clark (she of St. Vincent acclaim) are to work together has got us all hot under the collar. OK fine: Clark has a mere three studios album to her name, a far slimmer discography that the multi-volume list which lingers beside Byrne.
But what Annie Clark is adept at, what she thrives on, is stretching. Moving towards new ideas, accepting new forms of composition – the Oklahoma born multi-instrumentalist is the ideal foil for Byrne’s off kilter imagination.
New album ‘Love This Giant’ drops on September 11th, but a quick preview has already emerged online. Opening cut ‘Who’ is like a classic Stax track filtered through David Byrne’s nervous inner energies.
The horns might hint at the Mar Keys et al. but there’s an angular nature to the songwriting which jars. This isn’t some retro exercise, with Annie Clark’s tones adding a smooth, silken edge to David Byrne’s often taut vocals.
It’s a surprising – and surprisingly natural – introduction.