David Byrne St Vincent - Love this Giant

The Chosen for Today is:

David Byrne St Vincent - The one who break your heart

All the beautiful people
They did some work on your face
And in that struggle for freedom
Everyone looks the same (That's right)

And everybody is pregnant
And everybody's in pain
We're all pushing and shoving
To make those human beings

Although they say you're aristocracy (That's what they say)
We all deserve to wear that crown

Sing along
With the one who broke your heart
Sing it loud
It'll keep you safe and warm (That's right)

In the garden of Eden
On a hot summer day
We were totally naked
Outside that small cafe

Am I the one you imagined
Am I heaven or hell
But no one else can compare to
The way you love yourself (You know you do)

I came to tell you on this bicycle
The trees and houses say hello

Sing along
With the one who broke your heart
Sing it loud
It will keep you safe and warm (That's right)
After you dream
In the middle of the night (I guess I did)
I sing along
To open up those spirit eyes

Faster and faster
No one's holding the wheel
Interstate highway
Through those city and fields
Your friends and family
They tell your secrets to me
It's not so impressive
Until they all disappear

Sing along
With the one who broke your heart (You know you'll do it)
After that dream
Where you got that man you love

Review by Heather Phares (allmusic)

It's not surprising that David Byrne and St. Vincent's Annie Clark were drawn to work together. While they're hardly sound-alikes, they are both keen but somewhat detached observers of the human condition who make music that's equally cerebral and passionate. However, it is somewhat surprising to learn that they created their collaboration Love This Giant largely online, meeting in the studio together with their team of musicians and producers a handful of times during the album's three-year gestation period, because they're on such a harmonious wavelength throughout it. Though the album's brass-driven sound suggests Byrne's post-Talking Heads work more than St. Vincent's guitar acrobatics (Clarkfans may be disappointed that her playing is relegated to the sidelines here, albeit artfully so), it was actually Clark's idea to write these songs for a brass band when the project began as a handful of songs the duo was going to perform in a bookstore. At any rate, trying to dissect the collaboration's inner workings is beside the point when the whole is this dazzlingly creative. While Love This Giant might not be a true concept album, Byrne and Clark explore the themes of individuality, community, love, and death with a thoroughness and cohesiveness that suggests otherwise, and together they push each other into creative spaces they might not have explored on their own. Clark takes a funky turn on "Weekend in the Dust," where her singing mirrors the angular brass stabs behind her as beats whirr and tick like wind-up toys, and delivers some of her most vulnerable vocals on the expansive "Optimist," one of the most unabashed love songs to New York's potential since "Empire State of Mind." However, it's Byrne who sounds most revitalized by all the creativity flowing through Love This Giant, whether on the jaunty album opener "Who," the whimsical character study "I Am an Ape," or the celebratory "The One Who Broke Your Heart," which drafts the Dap-Kings and Antibalas to help him and Clark dance on their troubles. The album peaks with back-to-back highlights from the duo: "The Forest Awakes" lets Clark unleash her formidable fretwork over a relentlessly marching beat and strings and woodwinds, suggesting a particularly audacious St. Vincent track, while "I Should Watch TV" sets classic Byrne observations ("How are you?"/"Not like me") to alternately jarring and jubilant brass. For all the braininess and wildness on display, there's also a sweetness to the album, particularly on "Outside of Space and Time," which sings the praises of physics-defying devotion. Given all the things Byrne and Clark pack into Love This Giant, it's a remarkably catchy and concise set of songs featuring some of the most vibrant work that either one of them has produced.

Tune the album here

Check the Love this Giant website