Here Lies Love consists of new wave icon David Byrne and British beatmaker Fatboy Slim attempting to tell the story of the former First Lady of the Phillipines, Imelda Marcos, and her nanny, Estrella Cumpas, through 22 songs, two discs, and a whole bunch of guest singers. No, we’re absolutely not kidding. Sound awesome? Well, unfortunately, it isn’t — the batshit-crazy concept is, oddly, one of the only elements of Here Lies Love that makes sense. The rest of the album’s development — the showtune-esque arrangements of the first disc, the guest vocalists’ shameless evocation of Disney princesses — is nearly a complete failure. The only tracks worth hearing are on disc two (seriously, never play disc one), though these selections are still rare. The songs that work generally stray from Byrne and Slim’s humdrum pop; “Dancing Together” features Sharon Jones’ passionate, idisyncratic yelp, and “Please Don’t” conglomerates the duo’s most creative ideas over a smooth Santigold vocal.
Byrne himself sings on “American Troglodyte,” the only song that does not feature a guest vocalist, and it is here that the album reaches its high point. Based on this track, one can’t help but wonder if the guest vocals are necessary, or if they are just lavish distractions that Byrne and Slim included simply because they could. Whatever their reasons, the superfluous employment of these guests speaks directly to the fundamental flaws — a lack of focus and a lack of good ideas — that cripple Here Lies Love.
1.5 Stars
