St. Vincent and David Byrne with Brass

In a so-obvious-why-didn’t-I-think-of-this pairing comes news that David Byrne and Annie Clark (St. Vincent) have collaborated on a new album, Love This Giant. They’ve shared a pre-release track called, Who that sounds quite good, bringing together many of each artist’s strengths with a backing band comprised primarily of brass instruments. The idea came about because of the constrictions of doing a benefit at Housing Works a venue that the two wanted to perform at together.

According to Byrne, “Annie suggested we use a brass band rather than the typical rock ensemble—which would brilliantly solve the sound problems inherent in performing in a small joint like Housing Works. A brass band wouldn’t need mixing and could be heard acoustically in a room that size. They’d balance themselves. Easy. We’d only need vocal mics”

The collabroation which was written and recorded over a long period because of each other’s tour and project schedules. “It was an education that involved figuring out the variety of sounds and approaches one could come up with using more or less the same group makeup on every song—we could go funky or majestic with the exact same band,” writes Byrne. “A lot of people, hearing a description of this project, assumed that it might be an artsy indulgence, but somehow it didn’t turn out that way. It’s a pop record—well, in my book anyway. I started to sense that we were ending up with a sound and approach I’d never heard before. There were elements that were reminiscent of things I’d heard, but a lot of it was completely new. Very exciting!”

The album will be released on September 11th and coincides with a North American tour. The pair hits Portland with a full brass section on October 18th at the Schnitz. They’ll be playing tracks from Love This Giant and songs from each other’s back catalogs as well. You can download the track here.