Laurie Anderson's "Heart of a Dog" OST Out Now

The complete soundtrack recording of Laurie Anderson's newest piece, Heart of a Dog, is out now

on Nonesuch Records. Anderson was commissioned by the European TV network Arte to create a feature film—her first in 30 years. Her response was a personal essay entitled Heart of a Dog, a work encompassing joy and heartbreak, at the heart of which is a lament for her late beloved dog Lolabelle. Watch the film's trailer below. The Nonesuch album is the full audio recording of the film, including all music and spoken text.

Heart of a Dog has been shown at the Telluride, Venice, Toronto, London, and New York Film Festivals to critical praise and opened theatrically this week at New York's Film Forum. 

The film invites viewers to spend "75 enthralling minutes with the endlessly associative contents of Anderson's head and heart," says NPR film critic Ella Taylor. "Heart of a Dog is the ultimate realist narrative. It flows along, mimicking the continuous, fleeting, fragmentary flow of consciousness, the haze that lies between sleeping and waking, even between death and whatever lies behind it."

The New York Times' Manohla Dargis has made this "dreamy, drifty and altogether lovely movie" a Critics' Pick. "Heart of a Dog is about telling and remembering and forgetting, and how we put together the fragments that make up our lives," writes Dargis. "At times, it feels as if she too were haunting her movie even as, with every image and word, she fills it with life." New York called it "one of the most moving and provocative films you’ll see this year."

In addition to Anderson's inimitably thoughtful narration, Heart of a Dog includes musical excerpts from several of her pieces—"The Lake" and "Flow" from Homeland (2010), "Beautiful Pea Green Boat" from Bright Red (1994), "Rhumba Club" from Life on a String (2001), excerpts from Landfall (2011) with Kronos Quartet;vas well as the film's closing song "Turning Time Around," written and performed by Anderson's late husband, Lou Reed.




Laurie Anderson is one of America's most renowned—and daring—creative pioneers. Her work, which encompasses music, visual art, poetry, film, and photography, has challenged and delighted audiences around the world for more than 30 years. Anderson is best known for her multimedia presentations and musical recordings. Her tours have taken her around the world, where she has presented her work in small arts spaces and grand concert halls, and everywhere in between. She has numerous major works to her credit, along with countless collaborations with an array of artists, from Jonathan Demme and Brian Eno to Bill T. Jones and Peter Gabriel.

Anderson's first album, O Superman, launched her recording career in 1980, rising to number two on the British pop charts and subsequently appearing on her landmark release Big Science. She went on to record six more albums with Warner Brothers. In 2001, Anderson released her first album with Nonesuch Records, the critically lauded Life on a String. Her subsequent releases on the label include Live in New York (2002), a reissue of Big Science  (2007), and Homeland (2010).