David Byrne has shared his ‘Biking Playlist’ and reflected on the changing face of pop music – check out his picks below.
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The former Talking Heads frontman is currently out on tour in support of his latest solo album ‘Who Is The Sky?‘. Released last September as his first studio record since 2018’s ‘American Utopia‘, the record featured contributions from Hayley Williams, St. Vincent and The Smile‘s Tom Skinner.
Whilst out on the road, he’s been cycling to the tune of Olivia Rodrigo, Sofia Isella, Phoebe Bridgers, Mitski, and more – which he’s now compiled in the latest instalment of David Byrne Radio, titled “Biking Playlist”.
He said the whole band had folding bikes that they travel with to explore the local areas, adding: “If I have an afternoon off, I’ll often go for a ride to clear my head. And if I’m on my own and it’s a secure path or not a busy road… I’ll listen to this playlist.”
David Byrne’s ‘Biking Playlist’ is:
‘Square’ – Mitski
‘Demons’ – Allison Russell
‘Numbers 31:17-18’ – SOFIA ISELLA
‘Wet Hair’ – Audrey Hobert
‘Cruise Ship Designer’ – Dry Cleaning
‘The Book of Love’ – Olivia Rodrigo, War Child Records
‘Tie Game’ – Diagonale des Yeux
‘Vegetation’ – WILLOW
‘Sue me’ – Audrey Hobert
‘Trying Times’ – James Blake
‘Alright’ – Yebba
‘Running To Pain’ – Kelsey Lu
‘Hell Is Near (Live)’ – St. Vincent, Jules Buckley
‘Are You Listening Yet?’ – Harry Styles
‘Bowling alley’ – Audrey Hobert
‘La Perla’ – ROSALÍA, Yahritza Y Su Esencia
‘Rite of the Ancients’ – The Budos Band
‘Above the Neck’ – SOFIA ISELLA
‘sitting silently’ – WILLOW
‘Love Takes Miles’ – Cameron Winter
‘what’s wrong with me’ – Olivia Rodrigo, Robert Smith
‘Playground’ – Jesca Hoop
‘West Memphis’ – Yebba
‘Hi Ho’ – Tune-Yards
‘Springtime’ – Allison Russell
‘Salesman Saint’ – Paul McCartney
‘Flushed Chest’ – Joan As Police Woman
‘Aset’ – Ibeyi
‘Another Time’ – Zoh Amba
‘Lost Boys’ – Phoebe Bridgers
‘Eternal Flame’ – Joan As Police Woman
‘She’s My Religion’ – WILLOW
‘Sex and the city’ – Audrey Hobert
‘Need It’ – ECara Delevingne
‘What Am I Gonna Do?’ – Aldous Harding
‘Real Life’ – Joan As Police Woman
‘Honeybee’ – Olivia Rodrigo
‘Dry Spell’ – Kacey Musgraves
‘Offerings’ – Ibeyi
‘Momma Gets By’ – Paul McCartney
In a note accompanying the playlist, Byrne also shed light on his eclectic taste and understanding of pop music, arguing that the distinction between what’s considered mainstream versus unconventional music is constantly changing.
“What I think of as pop music is broadly defined,” he wrote. “Some songs are, by consensus, mainstream, but even some of those often push at the edges. Others take the format, length and shape of pop songs, but to my ears they don’t sound anything like the ones considered more mainstream.”
“That said, they’re all equal in my book,” he continued. “I don’t think of any of them as inside or outside – as I’ve seen those definitions change with plenty of exceptions that prove the rules are meant to be broken.”
The playlist arrived shortly after Byrne joined Anna Calvi on stage in Halifax and Cardiff for performances of their collaborative track ‘Strange Weather’.
NME gave the ‘Strange Weather’ EP a three-and-a-half-star review back in 2014, writing: “It’s only worth doing a version of someone else’s song if you bring something new to it. Anna Calvi certainly does that on this five-track EP of covers. Potential cover performers take note: this is how you do it.”
NME was at his set at Mad Cool this summer, describing it as a “bonanza”, adding: “As he and his backing musicians moved in formation across the stage, video screens depicted a variety of colourful environs – waves, a misty forest – before the Talking Heads track ‘Life During Wartime’ was accompanied by images of brutal ICE raids.”
He will also be going on an intimate book tour in the UK to support his forthcoming book Sleeping Beauties. He will visit London, Brighton, Manchester, Bristol and Edinburgh in November – see all of the info here.
