David Byrne – She Explains Things to Me Review

His reasons to be cheerful now spreading into the studio, David Byrne brings positive forces to music once more. It is a welcome sound, one which carries She Explains Things to Me far better than Everybody Laughs. The lead single from Who Is the Sky? had a read on the modern world which came off as a man out of time. Put down your telephone, the frontman says. Between this and Roger Daltrey saying online friends are lost when the lights go out, there is a worrying moment for these great songwriters in accepting the modern world. What they could do if they weren’t so hung up on chastising those who are connected through new means of communication. Hearing it from Byrne is unexpected, and while She Explains Things to Me has a relatively nice tone to it, the hangups of the lead single are still lingering.  

Paired with the Ghost Train Orchestra, Byrne gives himself and the instrumental collective little time to establish the song. The softer touch of She Explains Things to Me is delightful, though, a roaring victory from Byrne with those tender instrumental touches. Those commentaries on the obvious and everyday are sweet. The microscopic parts of life, like explaining movie details to a loved one, are brought to song. It would be hard to pull that into a longer track, and the two-minute stop-off with love on the couch is a very delicate experience. A welcome one, too. This flourish of sincerity is what Byrne has tried and succeeded in establishing with Reasons to Be Cheerful. Expanding that through song was an inevitability which has evaded Byrne for almost eight years. American Utopia dug into domesticity in all its highs and lows, while Who Is the Sky?, presents the big questions to tiny topics.  

Part of the reason for that is in establishing what we take for granted. We may feel annoyed or irritated by a person asking for details in a film they are watching, and rightly so, but we must also appreciate the love and connection. Byrne wants us to connect in a society he sees as putting up invisible barriers with screens and silence. Again, a sweet goal, but for those who are slowly but surely shutting down their online and offline presence as a way of escaping the cheerful and the chilling, She Explains Things to Me comes across as a bit simple in its aim. The connection between two people without a screen is still a possibility for disagreement. The only difference between arguing online and offline is response time. Relatively light instrumental flourishes are not going to change that, but they will note it nicely enough. 

Light work from Byrne here, both in writing and instrumentally, but that is part of the charm. Not every song has to be this Herculean effort in tying the world together through some nuanced expression. Some songs, like She Explains Things to Me, can be a celebration of the little things in life. Trying to expand on those moments, to explore the split-second occurrences which may tingle the brain for a time, is slim material for a record. Byrne never reaches beyond the lighter charm for this project, even when that positivity can be established with a firmer tone or a tighter writing style. It has that drifting, breezy quality to it. The aim of the song is nailed, but its impact, its hope that listeners will reconsider what they take for granted, is not all there.