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Album Review: Laurie Anderson - Heart Of A Dog

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"Living in a paranoid post-9/11 world, [Anderson] critiques government while dealing with grief and the passing of her dog, mother, and husband."

Ostensibly a meditation about her much loved dog Lolabelle, this soundtrack to Laurie Anderson's film finds her gently working her powerful stream of consciousness, which shifts from storytelling into allegory to deal philosophical insight.

Anderson's words and music moves in circles that deepen in meaning with each repetition. Living in a paranoid post-9/11 world, she critiques government while dealing with grief and the passing of her dog, mother, and husband Lou Reed. Anderson's accompaniment of strings and shimmering synth pads is so minimal that the focus at all times is on her hypnotically intoned words that are haunted by ghosts of her past.