Song and Circumstance: The Work of David Byrne from Talking Heads to the Present

Song and Circumstance: The Work of David Byrne from Talking Heads to the Present by Steenstra, Sytze. paperback edition. ISBN: 9780826441683.

For over three decades now, David Byrne has been a leading light in American culture - in popular music, experimental theatre, film, television, fine art, and writing. Based on the cultural capital he gained with his groundbreaking band Talking Heads, Byrne is able to enter into collaborations with many artists, some of popular fame -Brian Eno and Jonathan Demme, for example - and others known best in more specialized circles - such as Joseph Kosuth, Twyla Tharp, and Caetano Veloso. The map of Byrnes collaborations, including the casual and incidental ones, reveals an ongoing effort to combine avant-gardism with popular appeal. This highly original and illustrated account of David Byrnes career is structured by choosing a specific abstract approach, or a combination of two approaches, for each chapter, discussing the parallels and contradictions between such approaches to benefit the interpretation of Byrnes art. As a result, the fertile conceptual brew that characterizes Byrnes way of making art is present from the beginning, while each chapter adds to thorough insight and developing perspective.