Here Lies Love

2009 was a phenomenal year in music, and 2010 is shaping up to be just as good... if weirder. January has seen the release of Owen Pallett's wonderful and much-raved-and-blogged-about Heartland (about which I also planned to blog about), and March will see the release of a studio version of Tomorrow, in a Year, the Darwin electro-opera Moo and I went to see in Copenhagen last September (did you know Moo and I went to see a Darwin electro-opera??? Don't you wish I'd stop talking about it? Too bad!)

However, February will see the release of perhaps the strangest musical release of the year (yes, stranger than a Darwin electro-opera). Here Lies Love is a 2-disc album featuring songs written by David Byrne, in collaboration with Fatboy Slim, and with contributions from almost every alternative (in some form or another) female singer who's big today. The list includes Florence Welch (of Florence & the Machine), Sharon Jones, Santigold, Cyndi Lauper and Tori Amos (each with their own song, as well as a duet!), Martha Wainwright, Róisin Murphy, Nicole Atkins, Sia and... Steve Earle.

But that's not the weird part. The weird part is that each of these singers will be singing as... Imelda Marcos. The ex-First Lady of the Philippines. She of the many shoes. (I'm assuming Steve Earle will be singing as Ferdinand Marcos, but then I would hate to assume anything about this project.)

The album will be released on 23rd February 2010, however you can download the first song to be released, Please Don't (feat. Santigold) from the website already.  David Byrne has really done his research, often including actual quotes from the woman in the lyrics.  This song talks about the short trips Imelda used to take to visit foreign diplomats, what she called "handbag diplomacy". These trips allowed her to build up her status. She could promise things in these visits, and if her husband acted on her promises she got the credit. However, if what she promised wasn't acted on, well, it was okay too as she could say she tried but in the end she was just the President's wife, not a politician, and so nothing she promised was binding. A very clever woman.

This project sounds absolutely bonkers, and I personally cannot wait for it to be released!