''Homeland'' is the seventh studio album by
Laurie Anderson
Laurel Philips Anderson (born June 5, 1947), known as Laurie Anderson, is an American avant-garde artist, composer, musician, and film director whose work spans performance art, pop music, and multimedia projects. Initially trained in violin and ...
, released in 2010. A loose
concept album
A concept album is an album whose tracks hold a larger purpose or meaning collectively than they do individually. This is typically achieved through a single central narrative or theme, which can be instrumental, compositional, or lyrical. Som ...
about life in the United States. It was her first album of new material since 2001's ''
Life on a String''.
The record was produced by Anderson,
Lou Reed
Lewis Allan Reed (March 2, 1942October 27, 2013) was an American musician, songwriter, and poet. He was the guitarist, singer, and principal songwriter for the rock band the Velvet Underground and had a solo career that spanned five decades. ...
and
Roma Baran. Anderson began touring the project in late 2007. The album was originally slated for release in 2008. Because the project kept changing in form, the release was pushed back several times. The final release in 2010 was a two-disc set consisting of a CD of music and a DVD.
The song "Only an Expert" was released as a 12" vinyl single on May 18, 2010. A song titled "Pictures and Things" was the single's B-side.
The album's last track "Flow" was nominated for the
Grammy Award
The Grammy Awards (stylized as GRAMMY), or simply known as the Grammys, are awards presented by the Recording Academy of the United States to recognize "outstanding" achievements in the music industry. They are regarded by many as the most pres ...
for
Best Pop Instrumental Performance
The Grammy Award for Best Pop Instrumental Performance was awarded between 1969 and 2011.
*In 1969 it was awarded as Best Contemporary-Pop Performance, Instrumental
*From 1970 to 1971 it was awarded as Best Contemporary Instrumental Performance
...
in 2011.
Critical reception
Nina Power
Nina Power is an English writer and philosopher. She is a senior editor of and columnist for the online magazine ''Compact''.
Power received her PhD in philosophy from Middlesex University on the topic of humanism and antihumanism in postwar ...
, previewing the album in ''
The Wire
''The Wire'' is an American Crime film, crime drama Television show, television series created and primarily written by author and former police reporter David Simon. The series was broadcast by the cable network HBO in the United States. ''The ...
'' magazine, claimed that ''Homeland'' "reminds us why Anderson, now in her sixties, is the (modulated) voice of America's conscience."
[''The Wire'' Magazine, UK, June 2010]
Margaret Wappler of ''
The Los Angeles Times
''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the m ...
'' wrote of the album, "'Homeland' isn't so much an album as it is a poetic capturing of the still moments of a restless mind".
Track listing
Personnel
* Laurie Anderson – vocals,
keyboards
Keyboard may refer to:
Text input
* Keyboard, part of a typewriter
* Computer keyboard
** Keyboard layout, the software control of computer keyboards and their mapping
** Keyboard technology, computer keyboard hardware and firmware
Music
* Musi ...
,
percussion
A percussion instrument is a musical instrument that is sounded by being struck or scraped by a beater including attached or enclosed beaters or rattles struck, scraped or rubbed by hand or struck against another similar instrument. Exc ...
,
violin
The violin, sometimes known as a ''fiddle'', is a wooden chordophone (string instrument) in the violin family. Most violins have a hollow wooden body. It is the smallest and thus highest-pitched instrument (soprano) in the family in regular ...
(on tracks 3, 7, 12),
radio
Radio is the technology of signaling and communicating using radio waves. Radio waves are electromagnetic waves of frequency between 30 hertz (Hz) and 300 gigahertz (GHz). They are generated by an electronic device called a transmit ...
(9)
* Peter Scherer – keyboards
* Rob Burger – keyboards (2-5, 8, 9),
orchestron
The Vako Orchestron is a keyboard instrument made in the 1970s, that produces its sound through electronic amplification of sounds pre-recorded on an optical disc. It is the professional version of the Mattel Optigan, an earlier and lower-priced ...
(2-3, 8),
accordion
Accordions (from 19th-century German ''Akkordeon'', from ''Akkord''—"musical chord, concord of sounds") are a family of box-shaped musical instruments of the bellows-driven free-reed aerophone type (producing sound as air flows past a reed ...
(3, 4, 9, 10),
marxophone
The Marxophone is a fretless zither played via a system of metal hammers. It features two octaves of double melody strings in the key of C major ( middle C to C''), and four sets of chord strings (C major, G major, F major, and D7). Sounding s ...
(4)
*
Eyvind Kang
Eyvindur Y. Kang (born 23 June 1971) is an American composer and multi-instrumentalist. His primary instrument is viola, but has also performed on violin, tuba, keyboards and others.
In addition to his solo work, Kang has worked extensively with ...
–
viola
The viola ( , also , ) is a string instrument that is bow (music), bowed, plucked, or played with varying techniques. Slightly larger than a violin, it has a lower and deeper sound. Since the 18th century, it has been the middle or alto voice of ...
*
Tuva
Tuva (; russian: Тува́) or Tyva ( tyv, Тыва), officially the Republic of Tuva (russian: Респу́блика Тыва́, r=Respublika Tyva, p=rʲɪˈspublʲɪkə tɨˈva; tyv, Тыва Республика, translit=Tyva Respublika ...
n group
Chirgilchin (Aidysmaa Koshkendey, Igor Koshkendey, Mongoun-Ool Ondar) – vocals (1, 11),
igil
The ''igil'' ( Tuvan: игил) is a two- stringed Tuvan musical instrument, played by bowing the strings. (It is called "ikili" in Western Mongolia.) The neck and lute-shaped sound box are usually made of a solid piece of pine or larch. The ...
(1)
*
Lou Reed
Lewis Allan Reed (March 2, 1942October 27, 2013) was an American musician, songwriter, and poet. He was the guitarist, singer, and principal songwriter for the rock band the Velvet Underground and had a solo career that spanned five decades. ...
– additional percussion (2),
guitar
The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected stri ...
(5)
*
Antony Hegarty – vocals (4), background vocals (7)
* Shahzad Ismaily – percussion (4)
*
Kieran Hebden
Kieran Hebden (born September 1977), known as Four Tet, is an English electronic musician. He came to prominence as a member of the post-rock band Fridge (band), Fridge before establishing himself as a solo artist with charting UK albums such a ...
– keyboards (5)
*
Omar Hakim
Omar Hakim (born February 12, 1959) is an American jazz, jazz fusion and pop music drummer, producer, arranger and composer. He has worked with Weather Report, David Bowie, Foo Fighters, Sting, Madonna, Dire Straits, Bryan Ferry, Journey, Kate B ...
–
drums
A drum kit (also called a drum set, trap set, or simply drums) is a collection of drums, cymbals, and other Percussion instrument, auxiliary percussion instruments set up to be played by one person. The player (drummer) typically holds a pair o ...
(5)
*
Skúli Sverrisson
Skúli Sverrisson (born 23 October 1966) is an Icelandic composer and bass guitarist.
He has worked with musicians Wadada Leo Smith, Derek Bailey, Lou Reed, Jon Hassell, David Sylvian, Arto Lindsay, and composers Ryuichi Sakamoto, Jóhann ...
–
bass (7, 9), guitar (8)
* Ben Wittman – drums, percussion (7)
*
John Zorn
John Zorn (born September 2, 1953) is an American composer, conductor, saxophonist, arranger and producer who "deliberately resists category". Zorn's avant-garde and experimental approaches to composition and improvisation are inclusive of jaz ...
– alto
saxophone
The saxophone (often referred to colloquially as the sax) is a type of single-reed woodwind instrument with a conical body, usually made of brass. As with all single-reed instruments, sound is produced when a reed on a mouthpiece vibrates to pr ...
(8, 11)
* Lolabelle –
piano
The piano is a stringed keyboard instrument in which the strings are struck by wooden hammers that are coated with a softer material (modern hammers are covered with dense wool felt; some early pianos used leather). It is played using a keyboa ...
(8)
*
Joey Baron
Bernard Joseph Baron (born June 26, 1955 in Richmond, Virginia) is an American avant-garde jazz drummer who plays frequently with Bill Frisell and John Zorn.
Music career
Baron was born on June 26, 1955, in Richmond Virginia. When he was nine, ...
– drums (9)
*
Mario J. McNulty
Mario J. McNulty (born December 1978) is an American Grammy Award-winning record producer and audio engineer based in New York City, United States. He has worked with David Bowie, Prince (musician), Prince, Nine Inch Nails, The B-52s, Julian Lenn ...
– percussion (11)
;Technical
* Produced by Laurie Anderson with Lou Reed and
Roma Baran
* Engineered by Laurie Anderson, Patrick Dillett, Mario J. McNulty and Marc Urselli
* Mixed by
Mario J. McNulty
Mario J. McNulty (born December 1978) is an American Grammy Award-winning record producer and audio engineer based in New York City, United States. He has worked with David Bowie, Prince (musician), Prince, Nine Inch Nails, The B-52s, Julian Lenn ...
* Mastered by
Scott Hull at
Masterdisk
Masterdisk is an American multimedia company in New York, located at 8 John Walsh Boulevard in Peekskill. They provide production services such as audio mastering, vinyl cutting and enhanced CD and DVD production.
Their clients include such no ...
, New York, NY
*
Andrew Zuckerman
Andrew Zuckerman (born 1977) is an American filmmaker and photographer. He is best known for creating hyper-real images set against stark white backgrounds. His subjects have included birds, endangered species of animals, politicians, humanitarian ...
- cover photography
DVD
*Directed by Braden King
*Produced by Katie Stern Truckstop Media
Charts
Album
References
{{Authority control
Laurie Anderson albums
2010 albums
Albums produced by Lou Reed
Nonesuch Records albums