If you get a chance to see David Byrne, you should really take it. The art-music legend and former Talking Head released his album Who Is The Sky? a few months ago, and he’s lately been out on the road, playing a fascinating and innovative live show that elaborates on his American Utopia Broadway show and its Spike Lee movie. In their heavily choreographed performance, Byrne and his backup musicians and singers never stop moving, and they’re always interacting with the giant LED screens all around them. They all wear Janet Jackson/TED Talk headset mics, and even the drummers are mobile, carrying marching-band rigs. There’s no equipment anywhere onstage — just a giant LED screen that constantly surrounds them. One memorable moment showcases a song called “T Shirt” that went unreleased until this very moment.
“T Shirt” is not a Migos cover. That’s probably a good thing, not that I’m not interested. Instead, it’s a song that Byrne co-wrote with his longtime collaborator Brian Eno, and it’s a catchy, blippy track about how it seems like we can only communicate our beliefs with other human beings via slogans on our T-shirts and bumper stickers.
During his live show, Byrne and his band play in front of a montage of T-shirt slogans: “Well-behaved women rarely make history,” that kind of thing. The crowd cheers when they see a line that they like, but Byrne’s point seems to be that this is a ridiculous way for humans to reach out to one another. That’s what I took from it, anyway. Today, Byrne released “T Shirt” with an animated video that mirror’s the song’s live-show presentation. Check it out below.
The “T Shirt” single is out now on Matador. The old Talking Heads songs were my favorite parts of David Byrne’s live show, but the man is still really trying things. Check out his entry in our We’ve Got A File On You interview series.
