Through design or circumstance, David Byrne here flirts with zeitgeist more than his previous solo albums. While not expressly political, American Utopia can’t help playing as a reaction piece. Ostensibly the music for a multimodal project called Reasons to Be Cheerful, the onetime Talking Heads leader doesn’t offer optimism so much as consoling reassurance. Close-mic’d vocals foster a sense of intimacy. Alternating between soft verses and electro chorus, “I Dance Like This” echoes the telegraphed verité of “Life During Wartime.” Co-written with Brian Eno, “Everybody’s Coming to My House” encapsulates late-stage imperialist paranoia with pensive instrumentation and rhythm as Byrne incants, “We’re only tourists in this life.” (3:45pm, American Express stage)
This article appears in October 5 • 2018.
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Greg Beets was born in Lubbock on the day Richard Nixon was elected president. He has covered music for the Chronicle since 1992, writing about everyone from Roky Erickson to Yanni. Beets has also written for Billboard,Uncut, Blurt, Elmore, and Pop Culture Press. Before his digestive tract cried uncle, he co-published Hey! Hey! Buffet!, an award-winning fanzine about all-you-can-eat buffets.
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