“Who” is a mostly David Byrne-led track from Love This Giant, the collaborative album between Byrne and Annie Clark, a.k.a. St. Vincent. If you’re familiar with these two artists’ work, particularly St. Vincent’s recent Strange Mercy and the last decade or so of solo output from the former Talking Heads frontman, it’s almost exactly what you’d expect to hear. Predictable as the sound may be, with the slinky World-inspired rhythms and techno-soul horns driving the hook, this new track is by no means a disappointment. It’s more a logical, highly satisfying blend of two distinct but sympathetic styles.
Byrne, of course, has not been a stranger to duets and collaboration, despite the well-documented creative stifling of his Talking Heads cohorts in the band’s later days. Ironically, the catalyst of the other Heads’ marginalization was the flowering of the partnership between the frontman and Heads producer Brian Eno, Byrne’s first real creative soulmate. After blazing thrilling new trails on the Talking Heads masterpieces Fear of Music and Remain in Light, Byrne and Eno collaborated on the experimental LP My Life in the Bush of Ghosts, taking their previous experiments in African rhythms and found-sound electronic bloops to their logical, overwhelming conclusion.
In the last twenty years Byrne has made an almost entirely separate career of contributing to the work of other artists, guesting on tracks by TV on the Radio’s Dave Sitek, Dirty Projectors, Fischerspooner, and the pop star Selena, among many, many others. Annie Clark has followed a similar trail during her relatively short time in the spotlight, and in each other these two have evidently found kindred spirits. It’s impressive that Byrne, being the elder-statesman that he is, was able to recognize the potential in Clark’s brilliant recent work, so much so that he agreed to record a whole album with her. But really, we shouldn’t be surprised. After all, this is the guy who’s always been on the cutting edge of everything and has always known that he needs other people to keep him there.