David Byrne's work constitutes a Postmodern, apocalyptic mixture of music, lyrics, film, and photography. He is best known as the former songwriter and lead vocalist for the Talking Heads, a band he cofounded in 1975 with fellow classmates from the Rhode...
[more]David Byrne's work constitutes a Postmodern, apocalyptic mixture of music, lyrics, film, and photography. He is best known as the former songwriter and lead vocalist for the Talking Heads, a band he cofounded in 1975 with fellow classmates from the Rhode Island School of Design. Byrne's lyrics, which portray a neurotic, paranoid, and fragmented self, defined the new category of alternative rock and gave a voice to the disenfranchised youth of the late '70s and early '80s.
His uniquely frenetic, nervous, and jerky style of live performance is drawn from Performance art, evangelistic preaching, and Kabuki theater -- and is often unsettling to first-time audiences. But perhaps the most fascinating thing about Byrne is his view of the ordinary; his songs, films, and photographs all closely examine seemingly simple objects in incongruous situations. "A whole culture can be revealed in some very simple objects," Byrne says. "You can extrapolate from something very mundane. It's been an interest of mine for a long time." This interest is evident in all his work; from his intriguing film "True Stories" (1986), which focuses on the grotesque world of tabloid newspaper culture; to his lyrics for songs such as "Once in a Lifetime" and "(Nothing But) Flowers;" to his photographs, which include "Easy Chairs" and "Sleepless Nights."
More recently, Byrne has been exploring African and Latin cultures. He recorded "My Life in the Bush with Ghosts" with Brian Eno -- a collage of music inspired by sub-Saharan and Arab music. In 1989, he directed "Ilé Aiyé" (The House of Life), a documentary film about the Candombl religion in Brazil. Byrne's own record label, Luaka Bop, released the first Cuban album in the U.S. since the 1961 economic blockade. In 1992, Byrne collaborated with visual/recording artists Terry Allen and Tom Waits to produce "Uh Oh," an album of songs that combines big band, Latin, and funk. "Uh Oh," with lyrics that convey the alienation of suburban life, has been described as "either absurdly familiar or familiarly absurd." "Between the Teeth," directed by Byrne and David Wild, is a film about Byrne's subsequent world tour. Byrne's most recent project, an album titled "David Enryb," was followed by the "Constant Motion World Tour."
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