David Byrne and Mitski have shared “This Is a Life,” the first offering from the soundtrack to A24’s upcoming sci-fi thriller Everything Everywhere All at Once.
The track, which is also a collaboration with composing trio Son Lux, signals the epic scale of the film with waves of orchestral peaks and serene, reflective breaks. The song’s title also winks to the multiverse-hopping main character, played by Michelle Yeoh, with its notably indefinite article “a” suggesting just one of the many identities she inhabits.
Lyrically, Byrne and Mitski deal in both the finer details (“not only hands and toes”) and cosmos-level proportions (“with the weight of eternity”). As the soundtrack’s opener and lead single, one can’t help but wonder if the song’s initial burst to cacophony will be paired with the breathtaking visual of universes smashing into one another, as teased in the trailer. Stream “This Is a Life” below.
The 49-track album, which arrives on April 8th in conjunction with the film’s theatrical release, features an original score by Son Lux and contributions from Randy Newman, Moses Sumney, and Outkast’s André Benjamin. It will debut as the opener for the 2022 SXSW Film Festival on March 11th.
Byrne is still in the throes of his Tony Award-winning Broadway adaptation of his 2018 album American Utopia, which is set to close at the St. James Theatre on April 3rd. Last night, the cast performed “Like Humans Do” on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, while the Talking Heads frontman sat down for an interview to discuss his recent book of drawings called A History of the World (in Dingbats).
Meanwhile, Mitski is burning rubber as she takes her sixth studio album Laurel Hell on tour across North America and Europe through May, before headlining Seattle’s Day In Day Out Festival in August. Grab a seat here. Mitski also made the late-night rounds recently, playing “Stay Soft” on Jimmy Kimmel Live last week.
