Albums of the week: David Byrne, Sabrina Carpenter, SL, Harold López-Nussa

Who Is the Sky?

David Byrne

(Matador)

Who Is the Sky?, David Byrne’s 11th solo album, has the unenviable task of following the songwriter’s blockbuster 2018 album, American Utopia, and its innovative, restless live rendering. It won a special Tony award, having been turned into a Broadway show and an HBO concert film directed by Spike Lee.

Since his avant-pop days in Talking Heads, Byrne has been a querying voice, asking, as he does in Once in a Lifetime, “How do I work this?” Who Is the Sky? alternately probes and marvels at the state of things in the company of versatile contributors including New York’s Ghost Train Orchestra and Harry Styles producer Kid Harpoon. She Explains Things to Me finds Byrne boggling at how much some people can read between the lines. On the rhythmic What Is the Reason for It?, he wonders about the purpose of love opposite Hayley Williams of Paramore.

Most Byrnian of all is The Avant Garde, in which he raises an arched eyebrow at impenetrable artistic undertakings as the GTO move between angular instrumentation and mellifluous pop. Occasionally, Byrne’s faux-naive persona risks feeling trite. But his wide-eyed take still serves to reveal life’s absurdities and, as he sings on The Truth, how mankind is “as fragile as toast and driven by fear”. By Kitty Empire

Man’s Best Friend

Sabrina Carpenter

(Island)

Disney Channel escapee Sabrina Carpenter returns with her seventh album in 10 years, following last summer’s star-making Short n’ Sweet – and its three UK chart-toppers – with 12 songs recorded amid a world tour. She is, as she stated on that album’s deluxe edition, a Busy Woman. Unfortunately, there are moments on Man’s Best Friend when she sounds in need of a break. While her trademark innuendo-laced cheekiness and camp charm is ever-present (take the sashaying disco twirler Tears and the Paula Abdul strut of House Tour), it can often feel like retreading similar ground. By the time sex is described as “naked Twister” on When Did You Get Hot?, it’s hard not to roll your eyes.

Co-produced with John Ryan and Jack Antonoff, the album’s mid-section leans into crystalline mid-tempos, Carpenter’s expressive voice weaving around pitter-patter drums and slide guitar on the excellent Don’t Worry I’ll Make You Worry. The gorgeous Goodbye juxtaposes an Abba-esque riot of piano stomps with a chilly lyric about yet another useless man. It offers a freshly upholstered home for Carpenter’s pop nous – something that feels lacking elsewhere. By Michael Cragg

Block Tales

SL

(Believe UK)

SL’s identity is a mystery to many. He habitually wears a ski mask to protect his privacy. What we do know about the 23-year-old rapper is that he’s British-Nigerian, he’s from Croydon and he started making music during his GCSEs. His debut single Gentleman was released in 2017 when he was just 15. His rapping style is slow and talky, with a vocal clarity reminiscent of Slick Rick, Dave and JME.

Block Tales, a mixtape that reflects poetically on life on the “block”, opens with Intro, an indie-rock track with propulsive drums and narrative-driven bars. SL’s storytelling ramps up on Robbery, a detailed play-by-play about stealing “food” from someone’s house: “Form a chokehold while the mandem whack him with the bat.” What SL calls “street cinema” runs throughout the entire project, including on RIP Trey, a movingsong about losing a friend to gang violence.

There’s a lack of distinction between each track, so Summer Time, with its warm chords, brings a welcome switch in energy. But thanks to the edgy, gloomy beats providing a sense of drama, Block Tales is a successful project – about boyhood, danger and hope – told with commendable honesty and introspection. By Kadish Morris

Nueva Timba

Harold López-Nussa

(Blue Note)

Cuban pianist Harold López-Nussa is a master of confounding rhythm. Since his 2013 debut New Day, he has developed a signature sound blending fast-paced Latin percussive patterns and jazz improvisation, playing the keyboard as if it’s a drum as much as a melodic instrument.

On Nueva Timba, López-Nussa doubles down on his appetite for complex yet instinctual arrangements, delivering 10 tracks of ferocious energy. Recorded at the Parisian jazz club Le Duc des Lombards and enhanced with studio post-production, Bonito y Sabroso sets the tone: López-Nussa lays out a clave rhythm over background chatter and clattering percussion by his brother Ruy Adrian López-Nussa before launching into a double-time groove punctuated by joyous vocalisations.

The virtuosity continues on Gitanerias, on which López-Nussa’s frenetic keyboard runs are accompanied by a deep-swinging cajon rhythm, while Cerca y Lejos meanders sinuously between woodblock hits and Alma y Fuego drops the tempo to highlight Grégoire Maret’s beautifully lyrical harmonica lines. It is infectious – López-Nussa’s overlapping rhythms always inspiring us to move, even if we can’t quite hold on to the beat. By Ammar Kalia

Photograph by Shervin Lainez