421. Mia Dyson on Talking Heads 'Stop Making Sense' (1984)

We kick off our tenth anniversary year with ARIA-winner Mia Dyson, who joins me to talk about the soundtrack of the iconic Talking Heads concert film 'Stop Making Sense'. We talk about wearing out VHS tapes in the pre-streaming era, the contrast between the band's musical eccentricity and austere aesthetic, why the film is the perfect entry point for new Talking Heads fans, how the show builds from David Byrne solo acoustic to the full expanded band extravaganza, Byrne's obsession with deconstruction, how the analogue staging and filmmaking techniques have kept the film timeless 40 years later, the overriding joyousness of the performances despite the contentious interband dynamics, the unconventional choreography in the show, the earnest emotional core behind all the weirdness and Mia's NYC David Byrne sighting. Mia talks about how this music gave her permission to be herself in her own music, different concepts of authenticity and how Talking Heads influenced her 2018 album 'If I Said Only So Far, I Take It Back', and her approach to vocal performance and revisiting abandoned material for her new album 'Tender Heart'.