Dec

14

David Byrne News

Filed Under Updates 

MP3: “Knotty Pine” Dirty Projectors and David Byrne from Dark Was the Night compilation

Fans of David Byrne woke up this morning to find an odd, yet news-laced newsletter from the former Dirty Projectors collaborator Talking Heads frontman. Byrne announced with typical quirk that his latest musical project, a collaboration with Fatboy Slim, titled Here Lies Love, will release in late February via Nonesuch Records. This won’t be your typical album release, akin to Byrne’s previous album, the stellar collaboration with Brian Eno, Everything That Happens Will Happen Today. According to the e-mail, this will be a multi-media extravaganza. The package includes ” 2 CDs (22 songs), a DVD with videos of 6 of those songs, and a 100-page book that explains it all.”

The book will likely be a necessity, unless you’re up on Philippine politics of the last 40 years. The songs of the album are about Imelda Marcos and Estrella Cumpas, the woman who raised her. According to our brief, semi-thorough Internet search, Marcos, an international beauty queen, married Ferdinand Marcos and became the first lady of the Philippines in 1966. Ferdinand Marcos became notorious for instating martial law and doing away with the Philippine constitution to keep his power. Marcos appointed his wife to a number of government positions and she became known for her financial extravagance. The Marcos’s were exiled from the Philippines in 1986 after a political uprising. After the death of her husband, Imelda returned and ran for president in twice in the 1990s, as well as becoming congresswoman for her home province. How’s that for inspiration, Sufjan?

Byrne describes the music of the album as “an upbeat collection of songs” and features multiple vocalists, including Santigold, St. Vincent, Nellie McKay, Cyndi Lauper, Martha Wainwright, Tori Amos, Steve Earle, Shara Worden (My Brightest Diamond), and Florence Welch of Florence + the Machine. Take a look at the product here. Byrne also mentioned that there will be more news some time in January and some seemingly nonsensical stuff about changing his name.

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