When exactly did Nonesuch Records become such a hip label? Seriously, they were always interesting, but a tad highbrow, with an emphasis on folk, world and classical music. Don’t get me wrong; the Kronos Quartet is very cool, but not necessarily something you’ll find outside of a well-stocked specialty music seller. But now, you can find Emmylou Harris, The Magnetic Fields and Wilco, all Nonesuch artists, anywhere. The elite have reached the ground floor. In this, I shouldn’t be surprised that David Byrne is now on their roster.

But why isn’t he on his own, rather hip label Luaka Bop? Perhaps a listen to his latest, Grown Backwards offers explanations. While his penchant for world sounds and latin rhythms is still evident, he has tempered them with other flavors: electronic dance (the bonus track “Lazy”) and operatic arias, for cryin’ out loud (“Un Di Felice, Eterea” and “Au Fond du Temple Saint ” in duet with Rufus Wainright). Stylistically, there are elements all over the place, and yet this is Byrne’s most accessible disc in years.

Opening the disc is “Glass, Concrete and Stone”, a lovely, bright song and one that finds Byrne in fine form. Remember that he is known for his rather idiosyncratic vocalization, as easily prone to yelps and squeals as much as any other tonality, so it is nice to hear him carry off the material as confidently as he does. Those aforementioned arias, when treated simply as song and not as some quasi-dynamic statement, come off beautifully. No guts busted, no glasses shattered, just voice, strings and a peaceful feeling all around.

That peace is the unifying theme here, even when the context threatens to get too hard to handle. “She Only Sleeps” is a fun laundry list of a wild child, but it’s alright because “she only sleeps with me” (i/e she’s crazy but I’m the one taking her home). Read differently, and understood differently, the song could take on a whole different way, not fun and incongruous to the melody (i/e she doesn’t love me, she only sleeps with me). “Pirates” meets cute and works clever without becoming annoying; something that could happen all too easily with such a figurative device. Many (now) higher profiled artists still can’t get a grip on subtlety, leaving scores of dead horses behind them.

(I’ll just cast this as an aside and let you pass judgment: doesn’t “The Other Side Of This Life” sound oddly akin to Eric Idle’s theme for Monty Python’s “The Meaning Of Life”?…

What?! I’m just saying, that’s all…)

Most of the songs are short and I think that contributes to the user-friendly ambience. Byrne still has plenty of pop-smarts to know that some of his presentation is heady. Best to offer it in bite-sized portions and move to the next style before new listeners get too restless. This is why Nonesuch is a perfect fit for him, whereas on Luaka Bop, he sometimes seemed constrained (if you can believe that); he was the godfather of a specific idea, the fusion and delivery system of worldbeat. Odd that he would have to leave his own encampment to find the freedom evident on Grown Backwards.

If there is a caveat about the disc, it is that Byrne still sometimes goes over your head, as if he has renamed the salt “sugar”, the sugar “salt”, invited you for a cup of coffee and neglected to tell you this detail. It’s playful and in good spirit, but if you’re not prepared for it, you may be shocked by the taste of your coffee. And most definitely, the Talking Heads are gone. It’s over and done. If you’re thinking the label change is some sort of second coming of that band’s sound, stop right there. Nothing he does from here on out will meet your expectations and you might as well save yourself the angst.

But for everyone that sticks around, this is the good news. David Byrne is still one of the coolest guys in modern music and has made a disc for adventurous ears and easygoing attitudes. Try it and enjoy.