May 20-26, 2004
musicpicks
David Byrne
Rock/pop
After a busy 2003 -- the Envisioning Emotional Epistemological Information PowerPoint DVD/CD-ROM, the soundtrack for Young Adam, Talking Heads' induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and that TH retrospective box set -- David Byrne has undergone a most radical set of changes in his life and work. Having disassociated himself from his wife and his longtime label, Luaka Bop, Byrne created a new album, Grown Backwards, for a new label, Nonesuch. The slipperiest shows of separation anxiety and sadness on Grown Backwards ripple through snidely sarcastic and political-protest-oriented lyrics. Mostly though, what Byrne has created is forward motion, a humanistic musicality drenched in expressionist imagery and sentimentality. Whether coolly covering Lambchop or Verdi, or queerly crooning his own tropical chamber tracks, Byrne has never sounded so wounded or tuned up. He has suddenly started making sense.
Fri., May 21, 8 p.m., $35-$37.50, with Juana Molina, Merriam Theater, 250 S. Broad St., 215-732-5446.
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