•
Rating: He, a seventy-year-old, multifaceted and brilliant artist, founder of new wave with his Talking Heads; she, a thirty-year-old multi-instrumentalist with only three albums to her credit, albeit very acclaimed in the underground scene.
The age gap between them is narrowed by a shared sensitivity and a constant desire to challenge themselves.
They met on a great occasion: during the making of "Dark Was the Night," a compilation by various artists to raise funds for research against HIV and AIDS. From there, the idea of organizing a live-show emerged, where they also invited Björk and the Dirty Projectors to participate. However, the collaboration proved so stimulating that the project expanded, and the two began to put together a series of songs for an entire album.
Clark also proposed using a brass ensemble for the recordings, and that psycho of Byrne must have liked the idea so much that the skeleton of all the pieces is made up of them. The lyrics are mostly written together, through a dense exchange of emails.
In short, they meant business, and on September 10th, "Love This Giant" was released after three years of close collaboration.
An album built on exhilarating funk grooves and modern drum machines (programmed by John Congleton, already a cult producer), that showcase one of "grandpa" David's best releases in recent years. In short, this young lady has truly invigorated him, without too much influence from the Star (even Byrne himself defines it as "a more democratic collaboration than usual").
With the single Who, I couldn't stay seated; I had to get up and try to do the "moves" that the two do in the black-and-white video.
In Lightning, Clark shows all her vocal talent, coloring a very simple and rhythmically disjointed base, more so than in "her" Ice Age; Weekend In the Dust is a little elephant playing with a fly (I don't know why, but this image entered my mind the first time I listened to it).
Do you remember Byrne as off-key as a Talking Heads bell? Listen to I Am an Ape and the aforementioned Who and tell me what you think. There are two possibilities: either he has taken singing lessons recently, or he fooled us all in the '80s.
The One Who Broke Your Heart are the best Talking Heads of "Remain In Light"; in the beautiful Dinner For Two, Uncle David is in excellent shape, perfectly at ease with the danceable rhythm of the piece. Outside of Space & Time, composed solo, opens and closes with harmonies that could well accompany the finale of one of those American war epics.
An album that turns out to be one of the best releases of this year, fresh, modern, with a touch of art-chic, capable of giving you a pleasant autumn afternoon.
P.S. The album cover plays with the theme of "Beauty and the Beast," reversing the roles, but what on earth does poor Annie have in her mouth?!?
Loading comments slowly
