Seventeen years have passed since Talking Heads 77 – when Talking Heads sneaked arty, intellectual pop into the mainstream and David Byrne's neurotic vocals gave hope to dorks everywhere. All that might seem like ancient history now, particularly in light of the band's demise and Byrne's Renaissanceman forays into business, video, film, pan-cultural experimentation, dance scores and soundtracks. Except it's not.

David Byrne, Byrne's third solo album, sounds like a Talking Heads record, at least superficially. Musically, it's simpler (in spite of the use of a range of unlikely instruments); thematically, it's incredibly complex. Backed by his new band – drummer Todd Turkisher, bassist Paul Socolow and percussionist Mauro Refosco – Byrne is intimate but never confessional, detailed but still oblique. With resolute nostalgia and spare percussion on "A Long Time Ago," he contemplates his career: "And the roaring that you hear/Is only blood that circulates constantly/No, it's not applause, my dear/No, that was a long, long time ago." On "Angels" (which sounds a bit like "Once in a Lifetime") and "You and Eye" he mixes the banal with the spiritual to make a connection between loss and what it leaves behind.

Many of the tracks forgo traditional structures, opting for discordant guitars, echoes and electronics or simple guitar-and-drum arrangements that devolve into messy jams. Somehow, the two simplest songs stand out. Before cheery keyboards lift the spirit back up again at the end of "Sad Song," Byrne sings: "There are those who are happy/There are those who are wise/But it's truly sad people who get the most out of life." On the utterly romantic "My Love Is You," accompanied by the honks of a tuba, he admits: "Sometimes, dear, you tell me I'm an asshole, sometimes you're an asshole, too/Even though we're filled with imperfections, I don't think any less of you."

Amid an altogether first-rate record that's both raw and disciplined – and that closes with a tune called "Buck Naked" – those more direct songs strip away the catalog of eccentricities and circle behind the enigma to reveal the man, David Byrne. (RS 686/687)

CHRISTIAN WRIGHT