HOW MUSIC WORKS by David Byrne (McSweeneys, 2012)
“What is it we’re talking about here?” David Byrne asks rhetorically on page 220 (out of 358) in a section headed ‘What is music?’
It is as though he is oblivious to the fact that this is what many would expect the whole of this book to be about.
To those expecting to find straightforward answers to either of these two questions, all I can say is : you don’t know David Byrne.
It is not that he is deliberately obtuse or willfully obscure, but he has never been an artist who puts much stock in simplifying complex ideas. The subtext is that the creative process itself is a mystery and it doesn’t do to be over analytical about it. Continue reading
