''American Utopia'' is the tenth studio album by Scottish-American

rock Rock most often refers to: * Rock (geology), a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals or mineraloids * Rock music, a genre of popular music Rock or Rocks may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * Rock, Caerphilly, a location in Wales ...

musician David Byrne, released on March 9, 2018 through Todo Mundo and

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. The release is his first true solo studio album since 2004's '' Grown Backwards'', and serves as a musical component of a larger multimedia project titled ''Reasons to Be Cheerful'', which attempts to spread positivity. Byrne announced the album and posted its lead single, "Everybody's Coming to My House", online on January 8, 2018. The album received a

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nomination for

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Recording and release

The album is part of a larger multimedia project titled ''Reasons to Be Cheerful'' which aims to give reasons for being happy and optimistic in spite of political strife and environmental problems. The title is derived from the

Ian Dury Ian Robins Dury (12 May 1942 27 March 2000) was a British singer, songwriter and actor who rose to fame during the late 1970s, during the punk and new wave era of rock music. He was the lead singer and lyricist of Ian Dury and the Blockheads ...

song " Reasons to Be Cheerful, Part 3".

Reception

Critical reception

''American Utopia'' received generally positive reviews from critics. At

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, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album has an average score of 72 based on 32 reviews, indicating "generally favorable reviews".

The Arts Desk ''The Arts Desk'' (theartsdesk.com) is a British arts journalism website containing reviews, interviews, news, and other content related to music, theatre, television, films, and other art forms written by journalists from a variety of traditio ...

's Howard Male gave the album a positive review calling it a "a muscular and quirky return to form". Erik Adams of ''

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'' gave the album a B, calling the album an uneven "mixed bag" but praising the album's themes.

Commercial reception

''American Utopia'' became Byrne's first solo top 10 album on the ''Billboard'' 200, debuting at No. 3 with the equivalent of 63,000 copies sold in the United States.

Adaptations

The release of the album was backed by a world tour that lasted from March to November 2018. The elaborate concert featured an empty stage surrounded by metal chains and a cast of twelve musicians (including Byrne himself) sporting bare feet and wearing identical gray suits. Cutting-edge technology in wireless audio, MIDI, lighting and real-time tracking was used to totally untether the musicians from any cables, allowing free movement and complex choreography like in Byrne's previous tours. In addition to songs from ''American Utopia'', the setlist incorporated material from Byrne's solo catalogue, several hits by

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and a cover of

Janelle Monáe Janelle Monáe Robinson (; born December 1, 1985) is an American singer, rapper and actress. She is signed to Atlantic Records, as well as to her own imprint, the Wondaland Arts Society. Monáe has received eight Grammy Award nominations. Mon� ...

's " Hell You Talmbout". In September 2019, an altered version of the concert was previewed at the Colonial Theatre in

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. It now featured small changes to the setlist and to the structure to achieve a format closer to that of a musical stage production. It premiered on

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at the

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in previews on October 4, 2019 and officially on October 20, closing on February 16, 2020. A second run, scheduled to start in September 2020, was postponed by the

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. It was eventually moved to the St. James Theatre, where it started on September 17, 2021 and ended on April 3, 2022. A cast recording of the production titled ''American Utopia on Broadway'' was released in 2019 and received a

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nomination. A documentary/concert film version of the Broadway production was directed by

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and released in late 2020, on HBO. An homonymous picture book was released in late 2020, intended to be a companion piece to the Broadway show. The book includes words and lyrics by Byrne and illustrations by Maira Kalman.

Track listing

* On the digital deluxe edition, all tracks are noted as "Live From Kings Theatre, September 2018".

Personnel

Personnel according to David Byrne's homepage. * David Byrne – vocals; guitar on "I Dance Like This", "Gasoline and Dirty Sheets", "Every Day Is a Miracle", "It's Not Dark Up Here", "Bullet", "Doing the Right Thing", "Everybody's Coming to My House", and "Here"; keyboards on "I Dance Like This", "Gasoline and Dirty Sheets", "Bullet", and "Everybody's Coming to My House"; pads on "Everybody's Coming to My House";

production Production may refer to: Economics and business * Production (economics) * Production, the act of manufacturing goods * Production, in the outline of industrial organization, the act of making products (goods and services) * Production as a stati ...

*Airhead – drums on "Bullet" *Ben Anderson – cymbal on "Every Day Is a Miracle" *Isaiah Barr – saxophone on "Gasoline and Dirty Sheets" and "Everybody's Coming to My House" * Thomas Bartlett (Doveman) – Mellotron on "I Dance Like This" "Gasoline and Dirty Sheets", "Bullet", and "Everybody's Coming to My House"; piano on "I Dance Like This" *Jamie Edwards –

sitar The sitar ( or ; ) is a plucked stringed instrument, originating from the Indian subcontinent, used in Hindustani classical music. The instrument was invented in medieval India, flourished in the 18th century, and arrived at its present form ...

samples on "Gasoline and Dirty Sheets" * Brian Eno –

drum programming Programming is a form of music production and performance using electronic devices and computer software, such as sequencers and workstations or hardware synthesizers, sampler and sequencers, to generate sounds of musical instruments. These ...

vocoder A vocoder (, a portmanteau of ''voice'' and ''encoder'') is a category of speech coding that analyzes and synthesizes the human voice signal for audio data compression, multiplexing, voice encryption or voice transformation. The vocoder was ...

, background vocals and "prog ride tracks" on "I Dance Like This"; keyboards on "It's Not Dark Up Here" and "Doing the Right Thing"; percussion on "It's Not Dark Up Here" and "Everybody's Coming to My House"; voice effects, whistling, celeste, and brass on "It's Not Dark Up Here"; drums on "Doing the Right Thing"; "robot rhythm guitar" on "Everybody's Coming to My House"; original tracks *

Alex Epton Alex Brady Epton, known professionally as XXXChange (formerly known as XXXCBIOSCCC), is an American, New York-based record producer, mixer and film composer. In 2014, he joined XL Recordings in New York, and as their in-house producer/engineer wor ...

– drum programming on "Gasoline and Dirty Sheets", "It's Not Dark Up Here", and "Doing the Right Thing"; choir programming on "Gasoline and Dirty Sheets", synthesizer stabs on "Every Day Is a Miracle", bass guitar on "Bullet", cymbals on "Doing the Right Thing"; shaker on "Everybody's Coming to My House" *Ethan P. Flynn – "middle 8 section synthesizer" on "Everybody's Coming to My House" *Happa – drum programming on "Gasoline and Dirty Sheets" and "Everybody's Coming to My House", electronics and drums on "Every Day Is a Miracle", synthesizer solo on "Everybody's Coming to My House" *

Jam City Jack Latham is a British electronic music producer and DJ who performs under the alias Jam City. He has been active since 2010 and records on the label Night Slugs. He has released three full-length albums: 2012's ''Classical Curves'', 2015's ...

– synth stabs, guitar, and drums on "Every Day Is a Miracle" *Nathan Jenkins – harmonica solo and voices on "Gasoline and Dirty Sheets" *

Koreless Lewis Roberts, better known by the stage name Koreless, is a British electronic musician and recording artist. He released his debut album, ''Agor'', in 2021. History Roberts was born in Wales and spends the majority of his time in Glasgow. ...

– drums on "Every Day Is a Miracle" *

Daniel Lopatin Daniel Lopatin (born July 25, 1982), best known as Oneohtrix Point Never or OPN, is an American experimental electronic music producer, composer, singer and songwriter. His music has experimented with tropes from various music genres and eras, ...

– keyboards on "Dog's Mind", "This Is That", "Doing the Right Thing", and "Here", drums on "Dog's Mind", "This Is That", and "Here", synthesizers and bass on "Dog's Mind", processing and textures on "Doing the Right Thing" and "Everybody's Coming to My House"; strings on "Doing the Right Thing" *

Rodaidh McDonald Rodaidh McDonald is a Scottish record producer and record company executive. He was born in Edinburgh, Scotland and currently resides in Los Angeles, California, United States. His production and mixing credits include The xx, King Krule, Adele, ...

– arrangements on "Gasoline and Dirty Sheets", "Every Day Is a Miracle", "Dog's Mind", "This Is That", and "Here"; additional keyboards on "I Dance Like This", "Gasoline and Dirty Sheets", "Every Day Is a Miracle", "It's Not Dark Up Here", "Doing the Right Thing", "Everybody's Coming to My House"; drum programming on "Gasoline and Dirty Sheets", "Every Day Is a Miracle", "Dog's Mind", "This Is That", "It's Not Dark Up Here", "Bullet" "Doing the Right Thing", and "Everybody's Coming to My House"; "verse percussion" on "I Dance Like This", bells on "It's Not Dark Up Here", strings on "Bullet"; production *MMPH – main orchestral arrangement and sounds on "Doing the Right Thing" *Magnus Bang Olsen – piano on "Every Day Is a Miracle" *

Jack Peñate Jack Peñate (; born 2 September 1984) is an English singer, songwriter, and musician. Early life Peñate was born in London on 2 September 1984, the son of an English mother and Spanish father. His maternal grandfather was author Mervyn Peake ...

– keyboards on "Gasoline and Dirty Sheets", "Every Day Is a Miracle", and "Bullet"; backing vocals on "Gasoline and Dirty Sheets" and "Bullet"; textures on "Gasoline and Dirty Sheets"; drums, bass and shaker on "Every Day Is a Miracle" *

Ariel Rechtshaid Ariel Rechtshaid ( ;) is an American record producer, audio engineer, mixing engineer, multi-instrumentalist, and songwriter. His accolades include three Grammy Awards for music production. Rechtshaid was the lead singer and guitarist of the sk ...

–

flexatone The flexatone or fleximetal is a modern percussion instrument (an indirectly struck idiophone) consisting of a small flexible metal sheet suspended in a wire frame ending in a handle. Used in classic cartoons for its glissando effect, its sou ...

on "It's Not Dark Up Here" *Ben Reed – live bass on "Every Day Is a Miracle" and "Everybody's Coming to My House" *

Mauro Refosco Mauro Refosco is a Brazilian percussionist. He is best known for working with singer David Byrne and as the former touring and session percussionist for the American rock band Red Hot Chili Peppers. He is a member of the experimental supergrou ...

– percussion on "It's Not Dark Up Here", "Bullet", "Doing the Right Thing", and "Everybody's Coming to My House" * Sampha – piano on "Everybody's Coming to My House" *Jaakko Savolainen – guitar, bass guitar, and synthesizer on "Gasoline and Dirty Sheets"; keyboards on "Every Day Is a Miracle" *

Joey Waronker Jon Joseph Waronker (born May 20, 1969) is an American drummer and music producer. He is best known as a regular drummer of both Beck and R.E.M., and as member of the experimental rock bands Atoms for Peace and Ultraísta. Background Waronke ...

– tom and snare on "I Dance Like This" *Joe Williams – harp on "This Is That" *Brian Wolfe – drums on "Doing the Right Thing" Technical personnel *

Greg Calbi Gregory Calbi (born April 3, 1949) is an American mastering engineer at Sterling Sound, New Jersey. Biography Greg Calbi was born on April 3, 1949, in Yonkers, New York, and raised in Bayside, Queens, New York. He graduated in 1966 from Bishop ...

– mastering *Matt Cohn – recording engineering * Pat Dillett – production *Alex Epton – recording engineering *Tuck Nelson – mixing engineering *Marta Salogni – mixing engineering *Gabriel Schuman – additional engineering on "This Is That" *Jack Sugden – mixing engineering *David Wrench – mixing and additional programming * Purvis Young – cover art

Charts

References

External links

Official website of the "Reasons to be Cheerful" multimedia projectCredits and lyrics from David Byrne's site''American Utopia'' on Nonesuch RecordsLecture Byrne gave at The New School announcing the projectStream for "Everybody's Coming to My House""This Must Be David Byrne"
from '' GQ'' {{Authority control 2018 albums Albums produced by Brian Eno Albums produced by David Byrne Albums produced by Rodaidh McDonald David Byrne albums Todo Mundo albums Nonesuch Records albums Albums produced by Pat Dillett