Artistic treasure David Byrne has been on this website a whole lot lately. Tomorrow, he'll release Who Is The Sky? his first solo album in eight years. He also wrote and produced a grip of songs for Netflix's upcoming animated musical The Twits, so he could have a K-Pop Demon Hunters moment on the way. Recently, Byrne sat down with Stereogum American utopia correspondent Rachel Brown for Stereogum's first-ever video edition of our We've Got A File On You interview series. And hey, he's getting married this weekend! Just yesterday, Byrne shared his instrumental wedding playlist, as well as the Hayley Williams duet "What Is The Reason For It?" Hopefully, you're not Byrned out, since his album promo cycle continues.
Last night, David Byrne was a guest on Jimmy Fallon's Tonight Show. Obviously, if you're going to watch one video interview with David Byrne, it should be the one that Rachel Brown did. Jimmy Fallon has been interviewing people on camera since the dawn of time, but he could honestly learn a few things from Rachel Brown. I'm just saying. Byrne doesn't actually say hardly anything about his wedding plans in his conversation with Fallon. He merely confirms that it's happening, and then he does regular Jimmy Fallon interview things. That headline up above isn't a lie, but it's perhaps a bit deceptive. Whatever. You didn't click for the interview. You clicked, hopefully, to see David Byrne perform some songs.
Byrne and his band didn't perform in the Tonight Show studio. Instead, they played in New York's Rough Trade Records, which I guess is downstairs from that studio. This allows for a cooler atmosphere and a more expansive performance. The show itself aired Byrne's performance of "What Is The Reason For It?" Byrne didn't have Hayley Williams with him, but he did have a an array of choreographed singers and jumpsuited band members. In a longer online video, we get to see Byrne doing that song, as well as the recent single "Everybody Laughs" and the Talking Heads classic "Houses In Motion." The dazzling performance looks a lot like what Byrne did in his American Utopia Broadway show, and I hope it's a preview of what he's going to do on tour. Watch the performance and the interview below.
Who Is The Sky? is out 9/5 on Matador.
