It was 10 years ago this week that Laurie Anderson made her Nonesuch Records debut with the release of Life on a String. On the album, Anderson returned to playing violin on record for the first time since her debut album, Big Science, and featured guest turns from Lou Reed, Bill Frisell, Van Dyke Parks, and Dr. John, among others. In conjunction with its release in 2011, Nonesuch commissioned filmmaker Steve Lippman, aka FLIP, to create a short film showcasing songs from the album; the film went on to screen as an official selection at film festivals around the world. Watch it again here.
It was 10 years ago this week that Laurie Anderson, the most heralded multimedia artist of her generation, made her Nonesuch Records debut with the release of her seventh studio album, Life on a String. In the decade since, Nonesuch has released three additional albums from Anderson, including 2002's Live in New York, which captures her unforgettable performances at New York's Town Hall immediately following September 11; the reissue of her landmark debut album, Big Science, upon its 25th anniversary in 2007; and last year's release of the Homeland CD/DVD, her first new studio album since Life on a String.
With Life on a String, Anderson offered a plainspoken and personal set on which she returned to playing violin on record for the first time since Big Science. The 2001 album, co-produced with Hal Willner, includes guest turns from her now-husband Lou Reed, Bill Frisell, Van Dyke Parks, and Dr. John, among others.
"I tried to make the language plain and observational," Anderson has said, in describing her lyrical approach to the album. "I tried to be simple. Just to say what I saw."
Rolling Stone says of the album that “the overall tone is sparse, haunted, intimate ... Laurie Anderson is a singer-songwriter of crushing poignance.”
In conjunction with the August 2001 release of Life on a String, Nonesuch commissioned filmmaker Steve Lippman, aka FLIP, to create a short film showcasing songs from the album. The film—featuring the album tracks "One Beautiful Evening," "Here With You," "Washington Street," "Dark Angel," and "Statue of Liberty"—went on to screen as an official selection of the Berlin, Cannes/Directors' Fortnight, London, Sao Paolo, Denver, Athens, In-Edit/Barcelona film festivals, among others. Watch it again here:
Laurie Anderson "Life on a String" - a music short film from Steve Lippman/FLIP on Vimeo.
To pick up a copy of Life on a String as high-quality, 320 kbps MP3s, head to the Nonesuch Store now.
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