History Music / LoveThisGiant

* {{Feelies}}: The album comes with several art cards based around brass casts of faces and ears.

** Kelly Pratt of Beirut plays trumpet on "Dinner for Two" and "Optimist", also providing brass arrangements on the former.

''Love This Giant'', released in 2012, is the sole collaborative studio album by Scottish-American art pop musician Music/DavidByrne and American AlternativeRock musician Annie Clarke, a.k.a. Music/StVincent.

Consequently, the album bases itself around horn-driven BaroquePop, fitting the art pop sound Byrne had leaned into since ''Music/LookIntoTheEyeball'' in 2001 while also building itself around Clarke's own musical eccentricity. With both artists being singers, the two alternate lead vocals from song to song, occasionally acting as each other's backing vocalists and even duetting on "Lazarus". At the same time, Byrne's lyrical contributions grow more introspective than before: in 2009, he learned and publicly revealed that he had UsefulNotes/AspergersSyndrome (later absorbed into autism by the APA the year after this album's release). Talking Heads bandmate Tina Weymouth previously claimed that this was the case, but Byrne denied it for years due to the pair's testy relationship and, by his own admission years later, his unawareness of what Asperger's actually was. As a result of his belated finding, Byrne's songs on ''Love This Giant'' become focused more on themes of self-exploration, with Byrne later stating that at least one track, "I Should Watch TV", was outright autobiographical.

''Love This Giant'', released in 2012, is the sole collaborative studio album by Scottish-American art pop musician Music/DavidByrne and American AlternativeRock musician Annie Clarke, a.k.a. Music/StVincent. Marking Byrne's ninth studio album overall and Clarke's fourth, the project was born out of a chance meeting between the two at a 2009 performance between Music/{{Bjork}} and Dirty Projectors at New York's Housing Works thrift store. One of the concert's organizers suggested that Byrne and Clarke try a similar collaboration; the two had already known each other from a previous meeting at an AIDS/HIV charity concert, and respected each other as indie musicians, Clarke having been influenced by Byrne's prior work with Music/TalkingHeads. Initially planning a single live performance at most, the project expanded into a full-length album after Clarke suggested adding a brass band to the lineup, viewing the sound as an adept middle ground between the two's disparate styles.

* CallBack: "Lazarus" namedrops Music/TalkingHeads' [[Music/{{Naked}} "Cool Water"]] and invoke similar imagery of hard labor and class struggle.

* {{Feelies}}: The album comes with several art cards based around ethereal-looking brass faces and ears.

* SopranoAndGravel: While Byrne's singing voice is by no means deep, its age-induced ruggedness contrasts with Clarke's performances throughout the album, which oftentimes become ethereal-sounding.

The result translated to far greater success than anything Byrne had previously seen: peaking at No. 23 on the Billboard 200, it marked his first "hit" album as a solo artist and his first taste of Top 40 success of any kind since Talking Heads' final album, ''Music/{{Naked}}'', all the way back in 1988. The IMCA in Europe would further certify it silver. For Clarke meanwhile it was a step down from the No. 19 peak of her previous album, ''Strange Mercy'', though the higher chart performance of her following albums indicated that this was just a fluke. For Byrne, this BreakthroughHit would both generate an even bigger NewbieBoom than Windows XP's use of "Like Humans Do" and pave the way for his mainstream reemergence with his next album, 2018's ''Music/AmericanUtopia''.

In addition to its commercial success (by Byrne's standards, anyway), the album was also positively received by critics, who praised the synergy between Byrne and Clarke, albeit criticizing the music as less experimental than both artists' previous outings. Audiences meanwhile were more split on release: in particular, the lack of Clarke's signature guitar experimentation, the sonic similarity to Byrne's previous work, and Byrne's greater number of appearances as lead vocalist led to a perception that he was dominating the project (despite the album's approach being Clarke's idea). After the initial backlash cooled off, general listener reception towards the album leans positive, with some even viewing it as one of Byrne and Clarke's most underrated releases. That said, most fans regard it as a dip in quality for the both of them.

* TaughtByTelevision: "I Should Watch TV" is an expression of Byrne's longtime practice of this trope as a means of better connecting with society, as explained in the ''Music/AmericanUtopia'' concert film.

->''"Curious, mutually appreciative acquaintances became determined co-conspirators, and the result is an album that's brash and, quite literally, brassy. Byrne and Clark spin their intriguingly enigmatic tales, by turns whimsical and dark, backed by a large brass band in lieu of a traditional rock lineup. There is a magical urbanity to'' Love This Giant: ''It's as if they're dancing in the streets, their voices soaring over the rhythms, the melodies, the barely contained cacophony of the city."''

Consequently, the album bases itself around horn-driven BaroquePop, fitting the art pop sound Byrne had leaned into since ''Music/LookIntoTheEyeball'' in 2001 while also building itself around Clarke's own musical eccentricity. With both artists being singers, the two alternate lead vocals from song to song, occasionally acting as each other's backing vocalists and even duetting on "Lazarus". At the same time, Byrne's lyrical contributions grow more introspective than before: in 2009, he learned and publicly revealed that he had UsefulNotes/AspergersSyndrome (later absorbed into autism by the APA the year after this album's release); Tina Weymouth previously claimed that this was the case, but Byrne denied it for years due to the pair's testy relationship and, by his own admission years later, his unawareness of what Asperger's actually was. As a result of his belated finding, Byrne's songs on ''Love This Giant'' become focused more on themes of self-exploration, with Byrne later stating that at least one track, "I Should Watch TV", was outright autobiographical.

* Feelies: The album comes with several art cards based around ethereal-looking brass faces and ears.