IT’S TRUE: CHARM FROM THE HEADS

“TRUE STORIES.” Talking Heads. Sire.

When released last year, “Little Creatures” seemed like Talking Heads’ most conservative LP--a return to basic, graceful pop songs after a lengthy exploration of African music and other ethnic idioms. But now, “Little Creatures” suddenly seems like something of a breakthrough: the first record on which the Heads made it look easy, which is what they continue do on “True Stories.”

This is an enormously winning work with virtually no trace of the “Psycho Killer” or “Life During Wartime”-style shockers upon which David Byrne and his cohorts made their reputation. Instead, these are relaxed, good-natured and absolutely charming songs--and crucially, they seem to achieve that charm effortlessly.

Musically, the band sounds like it’s been together forever, whether laying down a relaxed groove on “Hey Now” or revving things up for “Puzzlin’ Evidence” or the infectious hit “Wild Wild Life.” The purposeful oddities of their earlier work have been replaced by a quiet virtuosity that’s rarely showy: touches like the steel guitar and fiddle in the lilting but disquieting “People Like Us,” the accordion in “Radio Head” and the (relatively) exotic percussion in “Papa Legba” fit neatly in the fabric rather than calling attention to themselves.

While Byrne’s upcoming movie includes much of this music and has the same title, “True Stories” doesn’t need celluloid to make its images indelible. Taking a trip through a slightly skewed domestic landscape, Byrne never looks down on his characters. Rather, he delights in their and his eccentricities, sketching generous, funny and haunting portraits. Sample: the media addict whose vow of devotion runs, “I’ll love you like a color TV.”

Some portraits carry a lingering, uneasy aftertaste that should be familiar to Heads listeners, but generally this album has a lovely feel. Where “Little Creatures” closed by advising us “We’re on a road to nowhere,” the last word here is “We live in a city of dreams.”

In a way, it’s disappointing to find a band that once broke new ground settling into a comfortable niche, but it is hard to hang onto nagging doubts in the face of a record as delightful as this.