David Bowie Announces New Album ‘Blackstar’ For January
UPDATE (10/26): David Bowie has confirmed, through his website, that his new album Blackstar will be released January 8. The single of the same name will drop November 20. See the statement below.
“It can now be confirmed that ‘Blackstar’ is the forthcoming single and album from David Bowie. Contrary to inaccurate reporting on the sound and content of the album, only the following can be confirmed:
The single will be released on November 20th and is not part of David’s theatre piece ‘Lazarus’.
The album will be released on David’s birthday, January 8th 2016.”
If a recent report is true, then David Bowie isn’t waiting a decade to release new music as he did with 2013’s New Day. Sources tell The Times that the Thin White Duke will release an album, Blackstar, on January 8 — the day he turns 69 years old.
The title track has been compared to 1976’s acclaimed “Station to Station,” which was inspired by the seminal electronic group Kraftwerk and a collaboration with soundscape pioneer Brian Eno. A source tells The Times that it features “Gregorian chants, a soul section, various electronic beats and bleeps and Bowie’s distinct vocals.” To put it another way, the song is “completely bonkers.”
What remains unclear, though, is whether this song is any different from the theme Bowie recorded for British crime series The Last Panthers. The opening credits track, also titled “Blackstar,” shares some of the same qualities that the source listed of this new album track: Bowie’s vocals for sure, but also the electronic pulse and chants that could very well be Gregorian, though they’re mostly in the background.
Perhaps this new album is a full-length soundtrack for the TV series. There’s no telling yet, though. Bowie has yet to announce the record himself, while a rep declined to comment on The Times article to Billboard.
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