''Love This Giant'' is a studio album made in collaboration between musicians

David Byrne David Byrne (; born 14 May 1952) is a Scottish-American singer, songwriter, record producer, actor, writer, music theorist, visual artist and filmmaker. He was a founding member and the principal songwriter, lead singer, and guitarist of ...

and

St. Vincent Saint Vincent may refer to: People Saints * Vincent of Saragossa (died 304), a.k.a. Vincent the Deacon, deacon and martyr * Saint Vincenca, 3rd century Roman martyress, whose relics are in Blato, Croatia * Vincent, Orontius, and Victor (died 305) ...

(Annie Clark), released on 4AD and Todo Mundo on 10 September 10, 2012, in the United Kingdom and the following day in the United States. Marking Byrne's ninth studio album overall and Clark's fourth, Byrne and Clark began working together in late 2009, using a writing and promotion process that Byrne had previously used on his 2008 collaboration with

Brian Eno Brian Peter George St John le Baptiste de la Salle Eno (; born Brian Peter George Eno, 15 May 1948) is a British musician, composer, record producer and visual artist best known for his contributions to ambient music and work in rock, pop an ...

Everything That Happens Will Happen Today ''Everything That Happens Will Happen Today'' is the second collaborative studio album by David Byrne and Brian Eno, released on August 18, 2008, by Todo Mundo. Marking Byrne's eighth studio effort overall and Byrne a ...

''. The duo had previously played together live at an Actor Tour concert, and on the album ''

Here Lies Love ''Here Lies Love'' is a concept album and rock musical made in collaboration between David Byrne and Fatboy Slim, about the life of the former First Lady of the Philippines Imelda Marcos along with the woman who raised her—Estrella Cumpas� ...

''. The performers enlisted a variety of

brass Brass is an alloy of copper (Cu) and zinc (Zn), in proportions which can be varied to achieve different mechanical, electrical, and chemical properties. It is a substitutional alloy: atoms of the two constituents may replace each other with ...

musicians to augment their songwriting and toured over the following year to promote the album. David Byrne incorporated a reworked performance of "I Should Watch TV" in the Broadway production and film ''

American Utopia ''American Utopia'' is the tenth studio album by Scottish-American rock musician David Byrne, released on March 9, 2018 through Todo Mundo and Nonesuch Records. The release is his first true solo studio album since 2004's ''Grown Backwards'', a ...

''.

Composition, recording, and production

The two artists met in 2009 at a

Radio City Music Hall Radio City Music Hall is an entertainment venue and Theater (structure), theater at 1260 Sixth Avenue (Manhattan), Avenue of the Americas, within Rockefeller Center, in the Midtown Manhattan neighborhood of New York City. Nicknamed "The Showplac ...

benefit concert for the AIDS/HIV charity

Dark Was the Night Dark Was the Night may refer to: * ''Dark Was the Night'' (album), a 2009 compilation album * ''Dark Was the Night'' (2014 film), an American thriller film * ''Dark Was the Night'' (2018 film), an American drama film * "Dark Was the Night" (''Grey' ...

. However, the collaboration stemmed from a second meeting, at New York thrift shop Housing Works, where

Björk Björk Guðmundsdóttir ( , ; born 21 November 1965), known mononymously as Björk, is an Icelandic singer, songwriter, composer, record producer, and actress. Noted for her distinct three-octave vocal range and eccentric persona, she has de ...

and

Dirty Projectors Dirty Projectors is an American indie rock band from Brooklyn, New York, formed in 2002. The band is the project of singer-songwriter David Longstreth, who has served as the band's sole constant member throughout numerous line-up changes. The b ...

were performing. A concert organizer suggested Byrne and Clark try a similar collaboration. Their work was initially slated just for a single live performance, but Clark suggested adding

to their line-up and the two realized they could write original music around horns. : The musicians composed lyrics in person and via e-mail, which resulted in an entire album's worth of material. Byrne and Clark each wrote and sing their own lyrics, with the exception of "The Forest Awakes"—which Byrne wrote, but Clark sings. The instrumentation and

funk Funk is a music genre that originated in African American communities in the mid-1960s when musicians created a rhythmic, danceable new form of music through a mixture of various music genres that were popular among African Americans in the m ...

grooves discouraged Byrne from writing his typical personal lyrics to writing about larger themes and Clark emphasized the

art music Art music (alternatively called classical music, cultivated music, serious music, and canonic music) is music considered to be of high phonoaesthetic value. It typically implies advanced structural and theoretical considerationsJacques Siron, ...

nature of the recordings while composing. The album cover was inspired by ''

Beauty and the Beast ''Beauty and the Beast'' (french: La Belle et la Bête) is a fairy tale written by French novelist Gabrielle-Suzanne de Villeneuve, Gabrielle-Suzanne Barbot de Villeneuve and published in 1740 in ''La Jeune Américaine et les contes marins'' ( ...

'', with Byrne as a "

Buzz Lightyear Buzz Lightyear is the main character in the ''Toy Story'' franchise created by Disney and Pixar mainly voiced by Tim Allen. He is a Superhero toy action figure based on the in-universe media franchise consisting of a blockbuster feature fi ...

-like" beauty and Clark as a

grotesque Since at least the 18th century (in French and German as well as English), grotesque has come to be used as a general adjective for the strange, mysterious, magnificent, fantastic, hideous, ugly, incongruous, unpleasant, or disgusting, and thus ...

beast. The duo originally intended a plastic Beauty and feral Beast as a joke about the age difference between the two, but altered their idea when they met the prosthetics designer.

Promotion

David Byrne and St. Vincent worked with digital promotions company

Topspin Media Topspin Media (or Topspin) is a technology company that provides direct-to-consumer retail and marketing software for musicians, filmmakers, artists, authors, and other content creators. It was founded in 2007 by Peter Gotcher and Shamal Ranasingh ...

to distribute the promotional single "Who" and create embeddable widgets to

stream A stream is a continuous body of water, body of surface water Current (stream), flowing within the stream bed, bed and bank (geography), banks of a channel (geography), channel. Depending on its location or certain characteristics, a stream ...

the album. A music video directed by Martin du Thurah was released on September 4 for "Who". Jon Dolan of ''

Rolling Stone ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner, and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. It was first kno ...

'' gave the song three and a half out of five stars, calling the collaborators' chemistry "shocking." In reviewing the track,

WNYC WNYC is the trademark and a set of call letters shared by WNYC (AM) and WNYC-FM, a pair of nonprofit, noncommercial, public radio stations located in New York City. WNYC is owned by New York Public Radio (NYPR), a nonprofit organization that di ...

's John Schaefer drew parallels between their use of

brass instrument A brass instrument is a musical instrument that produces sound by sympathetic vibration of air in a tubular resonator in sympathy with the vibration of the player's lips. Brass instruments are also called labrosones or labrophones, from Latin a ...

s and Byrne's previous work on '' The Knee Plays''. On July 30, the track "Weekend in the Dust" became available for streaming on the album's official website. On September 2, the full album became available for streaming via

NPR National Public Radio (NPR, stylized in all lowercase) is an American privately and state funded nonprofit media organization headquartered in Washington, D.C., with its NPR West headquarters in Culver City, California. It differs from other ...

. Byrne and Clark appeared on the September issue of ''

Filter Filter, filtering or filters may refer to: Science and technology Computing * Filter (higher-order function), in functional programming * Filter (software), a computer program to process a data stream * Filter (video), a software component tha ...

'' and performed on the September 10 episode of ''

Late Night with Jimmy Fallon ''Late Night with Jimmy Fallon'' is an American late-night talk show hosted by comedian Jimmy Fallon. About pag ...

''. On November 1, 2012, the duo performed on ''

The Colbert Report ''The Colbert Report'' ( ) is an American late-night talk and news satire television program hosted by Stephen Colbert that aired four days a week on Comedy Central from October 17, 2005, to December 18, 2014, for 1,447 episodes. The show focuse ...

''. The duo embarked on the Love This Giant Tour to promote the album between September 2012 and September 2013, with a backing band that includes eight brass players (led by Kelly Pratt of Bright Moments), St. Vincent's keyboardist Daniel Mintseris, and

My Brightest Diamond My Brightest Diamond is the project of singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Shara Nova. The band has released five studio albums and a remix album, five studio EPs and four remix EPs, and made several tours across the United States. Histo ...

's drummer Brian Wolfe. Like Byrne's previous

Songs of David Byrne and Brian Eno Tour The Songs of David Byrne and Brian Eno Tour is a 2008–2009 promotional concert tour of music co-written by David Byrne and Brian Eno with performances by Byrne. In addition to being a retrospective of the duo's collaborations, the tour promoted ...

, the performers engaged in complex choreography onstage while performing. Byrne also simultaneously did book readings to promote his book ''How Music Works''.

''Brass Tactics''

''Brass Tactics'' is a promotional EP that was released via Topspin's platform on May 28, 2013. Contains a new song, remixes from ''Love This Giant'' and live recordings from the Love This Giant Tour. # "Cissus" (previously unreleased album track) – 3:14 # "I Should Watch TV" (M. Stine remix) – 3:32 # "Lightning" (Kent Rockafeller remix) – 3:12 # "Marrow" (live) – 3:46 # "

Road to Nowhere "Road to Nowhere" is a rock song written by David Byrne for the 1985 Talking Heads album ''Little Creatures''. It also appeared on '' Best of Talking Heads'', '' Sand in the Vaseline: Popular Favorites'', the ''Once in a Lifetime'' box set and t ...

" (live) – 4:27

Reception

Critical reception

''Love This Giant'' has received generally positive reviews; aggregator

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that review aggregator, aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted arithmetic mean, weighted average). M ...

scores it a 77 with 36 reviews, indicating "Generally favorable reviews." Reviewing the album,

BBC Music BBC Music is responsible for the music played across the BBC. The current director of music is Bob Shennan, who is also the controller of BBC Radio 2, BBC Radio 6 Music, and the BBC Asian Network. Officially it is a part of the BBC's Radio o ...

's Jude Clarke calls it "a perfect cerebral pop pairing" that "improves and deepens on each listen" due to the songwriting and the singers' voices. Bram E. Gieben of '' The Skinny'' also praised the "engaging musical conversation" between the two singers, but criticized the musicianship for lacking experimentation and Heather Phares of

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databas ...

agrees that the album is lacking in Clark's "guitar acrobatics." ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

''s Maddy Costa has praised the vocals as well, contrasting them from subtle and seductive to "soft and whispy... with the glint of a razor blade." ''

The Independent ''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was publis ...

''s Andy Gill and Simmy Richman consider the brass instrumentation the greatest strength of the album with the latter declaring the work "a skewed and funky instant classic." Robert Leedham of ''

Drowned in Sound ''Drowned in Sound'', sometimes abbreviated to ''DiS'', is a UK-based music webzine financed by artist management company Silentway. Founded by editor Sean Adams, the site features reviews, news, interviews, and discussion forums. History ''D ...

'' praised the "jaunty trombones" and "jubilant trumpet-lead fanfare" as well, but found the alternating vocals weak and Byrne-centric.

Commercial reception

In 2012 it was awarded a silver certification from the

Independent Music Companies Association The Independent Music Companies Association (IMPALA), originally the Independent Music Publishers and Labels Association, is a non-profit trade association established in 2000 to help European independent record labels represent their agenda a ...

, which indicated sales of at least 20,000 copies throughout Europe. The album was Byrne's first solo effort to reach the ''Billboard'' Top 40, peaking at 23; this was subsequently surpassed by 2018's ''

'', which debuted at No. 3.

Track listing

All songs written by David Byrne and Annie Clark, except where noted # "Who" – 3:50 # "Weekend in the Dust" – 3:05 # "Dinner for Two" – 3:43 # "Ice Age" (Clark) – 3:13 # "I Am an Ape" – 3:05 # "The Forest Awakes" (Byrne, Clark, and

Walt Whitman Walter Whitman (; May 31, 1819 – March 26, 1892) was an American poet, essayist and journalist. A humanist, he was a part of the transition between transcendentalism and realism, incorporating both views in his works. Whitman is among t ...

) – 4:52 # "I Should Watch TV" – 3:08 # "Lazarus" – 3:13 # "Optimist" – 3:49 # "Lightning" – 4:15 # "The One Who Broke Your Heart" – 3:46 # "Outside of Space & Time" (Byrne) – 4:34

Personnel

Byrne-and-st-vincent cincinnati July 10, 2013

– guitar, vocals, production; percussion programming on "The Forest Awakes" and "The One Who Broke Your Heart";

Omnichord The Omnichord is an electronic musical instrument introduced in 1981 by the Suzuki Musical Instrument Corporation. It typically features a touch plate known as "Sonic Strings", preset rhythms, auto-bass line functionality, and buttons for ma ...

on "Optimist" *

– guitar, vocals, production; synth bass on "Ice Age", "I Am an Ape", "I Should Watch TV", and "Lightning";

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 ...

on "Dinner for Two" Additional musicians * Jacquelyn Adams –

French horn The French horn (since the 1930s known simply as the horn in professional music circles) is a brass instrument made of tubing wrapped into a coil with a flared bell. The double horn in F/B (technically a variety of German horn) is the horn most ...

on "Who", "Ice Age", "I Am an Ape", "I Should Watch TV", and "Out of Space and Time" * Randy Andos –

tuba The tuba (; ) is the lowest-pitched musical instrument in the brass family. As with all brass instruments, the sound is produced by lip vibrationa buzzinto a mouthpiece. It first appeared in the mid-19th century, making it one of the ne ...

on "Weekend in the Dust" *

Antibalas Afrobeat Orchestra Antibalas (Spanish for "bulletproof") is an American, Brooklyn-based afrobeat band that is modeled after Fela Kuti's Africa 70 band and Eddie Palmieri's Harlem River Drive Orchestra. Although their music generally follows the musical architectu ...

– "The One Who Broke Your Heart" **

Stuart D. Bogie Stuart D. Bogie is an American multi-instrumentalist, composer, arranger, and music producer. Originally from Evanston, Illinois, Bogie became a staple in the Brooklyn music scene. Early years Bogie studied music at the Interlochen Arts Academ ...

– saxophone **

Jordan McLean Jordan McLean (born 8 October 1991) is an Australian professional rugby league footballer who plays as a for the North Queensland Cowboys in the National Rugby League (NRL) and Australia national rugby league team, Australia at international ...

– trumpet **

Martín Perna Martin Perna is an educator, and multidisciplinary artist living in Houston, Texas. Music Perna, who is of Mexican American descent, founded the musical groups Antibalas and Ocote Soul Sounds, and has written for and/or recorded with Sharo ...

– saxophone * Jack Bashkow – saxophone on "Who", "Dinner for Two", "Ice Age", "I Am an Ape", "The Forest Awakes", "I Should Watch TV", "Lazarus", and "Lightning"; clarinet on "Optimist" * Lawrence Di Bello – French horn on "The Forest Awakes" * Ravi Best – trumpet on "Weekend in the Dust" * Ron Blake – saxophone on "Weekend in the Dust" * Jeff Caswell –

bass trombone The bass trombone (german: Bassposaune, it, trombone basso) is the bass instrument in the trombone family of brass instruments. Modern instruments are pitched in the same B♭ as the tenor trombone but with a larger bore, bell and mouthpiece to ...

on "Ice Age", "I Am an Ape", "The Forest Awakes", "I Should Watch TV", "Lazarus", "Optimist", "Lightning", and "Outside of Space and Time" *

John Congleton John Congleton is an American Grammy Award-winning record producer, engineer, mixer, writer and musician. In addition to his production work, Congleton has fronted the alternative rock band the Paper Chase, and writes music for a newer project e ...

– production, drum programming; synth on "I Should Watch TV" *

The Dap-Kings Sharon Jones & the Dap-Kings were an American funk and soul band signed to Daptone Records. They were part of a revival movement of mid-1960s to mid-1970s style funk and soul music. They released their debut album ''Dap Dippin in 2002, the fir ...

– "The One Who Broke Your Heart" ** Cochemea Gastelum – saxophone ** David Guy – trumpet * Eric Davis – French horn on "Who", "Dinner for Two", "Ice Age", "I Am an Ape", "I Should Watch TV", "Lazarus", "Optimist", "Lightning", and "Outside of Space and Time" * Dominic Derasse – trumpet on "Dinner for Two", "The Forest Awakes", and "Lazarus" * Rachel Drehmann – French horn on "The Forest Awakes" and "Lazarus" * Steve Elson – saxophone on "Who", "Weekend in the Dust", "Dinner for Two", "Ice Age", "I Am an Ape", "The Forest Awakes", "I Should Watch TV", "Lazarus", "Optimist", and "Lightning" * Kenneth Finn – euphonium on "Dinner for Two"; trombone on "I Am an Ape", "The Forest Awakes", "I Should Watch TV", "Lazarus", "Optimist", and "Lightning" * Gareth Flowers – trumpet on "Dinner for Two", "Ice Age", "I Am an Ape", "The Forest Awakes", "I Should Watch TV", "Lazarus", "Optimist", "Lightning", and "Outside of Space and Time" * Alex Foster – saxophone on "Weekend in the Dust" * Josh Frank – trumpet on "Ice Age", "I Am an Ape", "I Should Watch TV", and "Lighting"; trumpet and

flugelhorn The flugelhorn (), also spelled fluegelhorn, flugel horn, or flügelhorn, is a brass instrument that resembles the trumpet and cornet but has a wider, more conical bore. Like trumpets and cornets, most flugelhorns are pitched in B, though some ...

on "Outside of Space and Time" * Paul Frazier – bass guitar on "Who" and "Outside of Space and Time" * Earl Gardner – trumpet on "Weekend in the Dust" * Mike Gurfield – trumpet on "Dinner for Two", "Ice Age", "I Am an Ape", "The Forest Awakes", "I Should Watch TV", "Lazarus", "Optimist", "Lightning", and "Outside of Space and Time" *

Stan Harrison Stan Harrison (born December 8, 1953) is an American saxophonist who is also accomplished in playing other woodwind instruments, namely the horn, flute and clarinet. He has also written music for television. Harrison released his first solo album ...

– saxophone on "Weekend in the Dust" *

Ian Hendrickson-Smith Ian Hendrickson-Smith is an American jazz saxophonist. He is best known for being a former member of Sharon Jones & the Dap-Kings from 2004 to 2010 and playing with The Roots on ''The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon''. Early life Hendrickson-S ...

– saxophone on "The One Who Broke Your Heart" * Tom Hutchinson – euphonium on "Dinner for Two" * Aaron Johnson – trombone on "The One Who Broke Your Heart" * Ryan Keberle – trombone on "Weekend in the Dust" * R. J. Kelly – French horn on "Dinner for Two", "Lazarus", and "Optimist" * Chris Komer – French horn on "Who", "Dinner for Two", "Ice Age", "I Am an Ape", "I Should Watch TV", "Optimist", and "Lightning" * Anthony LaMarca – drums on "Who" * William Lang – trombone on "Dinner for Two" and "The Forest Awakes" * Bob Magnuson – saxophone on "The Forest Awakes" * Brian Mahany – trombone on "Dinner for Two", "Ice Age", "I Am an Ape", "I Should Watch TV", "Lazarus", "Optimist", and "Lightning" *

Ozzie Melendez Osvaldo Melendez Jr, known professionally as Ozzie Melendez, has been a highly regarded studio musician and touring artist in various genres of the music industry since the mid- 1980’s. He has performed with some of the biggest names in the ind ...

– trombone on "Weekend in the Dust" * Patrick Milando – French horn on "The Forest Awakes" *

Lenny Pickett Lenny Pickett (born April 10, 1954) is an American saxophonist and musical director of the ''Saturday Night Live'' band. From 1973 to 1981 he was a member of Tower of Power. He is known for his skill in the altissimo register (executed by using ...

– saxophone and brass arrangement on "Weekend in the Dust" * Jonathan Powell – trumpet on "Weekend in the Dust" * Kelly Pratt – trumpet on "Dinner for Two" and "Optimist"; brass arrangement on "Dinner for Two" *

Mauro Refosco Mauro Refosco is a Brazilian percussionist. He is best known for working with singer David Byrne and as the former touring and session percussionist for the American rock band Red Hot Chili Peppers. He is a member of the experimental supergroup A ...

–

snare drum The snare (or side drum) is a percussion instrument that produces a sharp staccato sound when the head is struck with a drum stick, due to the use of a series of stiff wires held under tension against the lower skin. Snare drums are often used ...

on "The Forest Awakes",

timpani Timpani (; ) or kettledrums (also informally called timps) are musical instruments in the percussion family. A type of drum categorised as a hemispherical drum, they consist of a membrane called a head stretched over a large bowl traditionall ...

on "I Should Watch TV",

surdo The surdo is a large bass drum used in many kinds of Brazilian music, such as Axé/Samba-reggae and samba, where it plays the lower parts from a percussion section. It is also notable for its association with the cucumbi genre of the Ancient Near ...

on "Optimist" *

Marcus Rojas Marcus Rojas (born February 23, 1963) is an American Tuba, tubist from New York City. Early life Rojas was born in New York City on February 23, 1963, and grew up in Red Hook, Brooklyn. His early influences included Eddie Palmieri, Willie Coló ...

– tuba on "Weekend in the Dust", "Ice Age", "I Should Watch TV", "Lazarus", "Lightning", and "Outside of Space and Time" * Mike Seltzer – trombone on "Ice Age" * Evan Smith –

clarinet The clarinet is a musical instrument in the woodwind family. The instrument has a nearly cylindrical bore and a flared bell, and uses a single reed to produce sound. Clarinets comprise a family of instruments of differing sizes and pitches ...

and flute on "Who" and "I Am an Ape" * Bob Stewart – tuba on "The One Who Broke Your Heart" * Tom Timko – saxophone on "Who", "Dinner for Two", "Ice Age", "I Am an Ape", "I Should Watch TV", "Lazarus", "Optimist", and "Lightning" * Kyle Turner – tuba on "Dinner for Two" and "The Forest Awakes" *

Steve Turre Stephen Johnson Turre (born September 12, 1948, in Omaha, Nebraska) is an American jazz trombonist and a pioneer of using Conch (instrument), seashells as instruments, a composer, arranger, and educator at the collegiate-conservatory level. For ...

– trombone on "Weekend in the Dust" * Michael Williams – trombone on "The One Who Broke Your Heart" Technical * Jon Altschuler –

engineering Engineering is the use of scientific method, scientific principles to design and build machines, structures, and other items, including bridges, tunnels, roads, vehicles, and buildings. The discipline of engineering encompasses a broad rang ...

Greg Calbi Gregory Calbi (born April 3, 1949) is an American mastering engineer at Sterling Sound, New Jersey. Biography Greg Calbi was born on April 3, 1949, in Yonkers, New York, and raised in Bayside, Queens, New York. He graduated in 1966 from Bisho ...

– mastering at Sterling Sound, New York City *

Patrick Dillett Patrick may refer to: * Patrick (given name), list of people and fictional characters with this name * Patrick (surname), list of people with this name People * Saint Patrick (c. 385–c. 461), Christian saint *Gilla Pátraic (died 1084), Patrick ...

– production, mixing, drum programming * Tony Finno – brass arrangements * Ken Thompson – brass arrangements on "The Forest Awakes" with Tony Finno * Yuki Takahashi – engineering Design * Gabe Bartalos – prosthetics * Richard Burbridge – cover photo * Catalina Kulczar – art * Juan Marin – art * Steve Powers – type design * LeeAnn Rossi – art * Noah Wall – package design and art

References

External links

* {{Authority control 2012 albums 4AD albums Albums produced by David Byrne Albums produced by John Congleton Albums produced by Pat Dillett Collaborative albums David Byrne albums St. Vincent (musician) albums Todo Mundo albums Art pop albums