David Byrne

American Utopia is David’s first solo studio album since his Nonesuch debut in 2004, Grown Backwards.

The new album started with longtime collaborator Brian Eno, and later David was joined by producer Rodaidh McDonald (The xx, King Krule, Sampha, Savages) plus additional contributors like Daniel Lopatin (AKA Oneohtrix Point Never), Jam City, Thomas Bartlett, Jack Peñate, Sampha and many more.

David says:

"These songs don’t describe this imaginary and possibly impossible place, but rather they attempt to describe the world we live in now – and that world, when we look at it, as we live in it, as it impacts on us – immediately commands us to ask ourselves, Is there another way? A better way? A different way? This group of songs is indirectly about those questions. And what drives us to ask those questions. The songs are sincere – to answer the question above, the title is not ironic.

The title is not so much about a utopia, as it is about our longing, frustration, aspirations, fears, hopes regarding what could be, what is possible. How and what could we be. Surely, we ask ourselves, it doesn’t have to be like this. There is a longing for possibility – and I have a feeling that is what these songs touch on. I am as mystified as any of us – I have no prescriptions or sure fire answers – but I sense that I am not the only one asking, wondering and still willing to hold on to some tiny bit of hope, still willing to not succumb entirely to despair or cynicism. It’s not easy, but music helps."