Talking Heads have teamed up for a book. The band announced Wednesday, October 21, that all four members collaborated on Talking Heads: New Feeling, a large-format coffee-table book due May 18 via Abrams Books. 

David Byrne, Chris Frantz, Jerry Harrison, and Tina Weymouth sat in a circle for a video on the publisher’s Instagram to explain the project. Weymouth described the book as a chance for the four to write and curate “the comprehensive coffee-table book” about the band. Bryne noted that the release will land during the 50th anniversary year of their debut album, Talking Heads: 77. 

Check out the video on Instagram below:

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According to the publisher, the 400-page book pairs hundreds of images with essays from each member and annotated concert playlists. Eric Skillman handled the graphic design, which includes bold edge printing. Among the archival material are the original handwritten lyrics to “Psycho Killer” and “Life During Wartime.”

Harrison said the archive pull also turned up original album sketches and private photos. “Some of which haven’t left our archive in over 40 years,” he said. 

Frantz framed the story as one of three art students who met at the Rhode Island School of Design and wound up at CBGB, the center of New York’s punk and new wave scene in the 1970s. Harrison joined that trio shortly before the band signed to Sire Records and made their debut. 

The title is a nod to an early song. “New Feeling” was recorded during the sessions that produced Talking Heads: 77, which came out September 16, 1977, and also includes “Psycho Killer.”

The band’s catalog itself has been getting the archival treatment lately, too. Talking Heads: 77 received a Super Deluxe edition in 2024 that includes a previously unreleased recording of the group’s October 10, 1977 show at CBGB, along with an 80-page hardcover book. 

The members have told their own stories before. Frantz detailed the band’s rise in his memoir Remain in Love, while Byrne explored his creative process in How Music Works. New Feeling is billed as the first book authorized by all four members. 

A Collector’s Edition is also on the way, housed in a clamshell box with a 19-piece wooden puzzle built into the cover.