Homeland (Laurie Anderson album)

Homeland is an album by Laurie Anderson. It is her first album of new material since 2001's Life on a String.

The record was produced by Anderson, Lou Reed and Roma Baran. Anderson has been touring the project since late 2007, and the album was slated for release since as early as 2008. Because the project kept changing in form, the release was pushed back several times.

The song "Only an Expert" was released as a 12" vinyl single on May 18, 2010. A song titled "Pictures and Things" was the single's B-side.^[2]

Track listing

1. "Transitory Life" (6:52)
2. "My Right Eye" (5:01)
3. "Thinking of You" (4:12)
4. "Strange Perfumes" (4:46)
5. "Only an Expert" (7:26)
6. "Falling" (3:19)
7. "Another Day in America" (11:24)
8. "Bodies in Motion" (7:10)
9. "Dark Time in the Revolution" (5:19)
10. "The Lake" (5:39)
11. "The Beginning of Memory" (2:45)
12. "Flow" (2:15)

Personnel

• Produced by Laurie Anderson with Lou Reed and Roma Baran
• Engineered by Laurie Anderson, Pat Dillett, Mario McNulty, and Marc Urselli
• Mixed by Mario McNulty
• Mastered by Scott Hull at Masterdisk, New York, NY
• Additional percussion/guitar: Lou Reed (tracks 2 & 5)
• Saxophone: John Zorn (tracks 8 & 11)
• Keyboards: Kieran Hebden (track 5)
• Additional vocals: Antony Hegarty (track 4 & 7)
• Tuvan group Chirgilchin (vocals and igil on track 1)
• Viola: Eyvind Kang

Reception

Nina Power, previewing the album in The Wire magazine, claimed that Homeland "reminds us why Anderson, now in her sixties, is the (modulated) voice of America's conscience."^[3]

Margaret Wappler of The Los Angeles Times wrote of the album, "'Homeland' isn't so much an album as it is a poetic capturing of the still moments of a restless mind".^[4]

References

1. ^ Only an Expert by Laurie Anderson
2. ^ Only an Expert by Laurie Anderson
3. ^ The Wire Magazine, UK, June 2010
4. ^ Los Angeles Times review