Like many people, one of my favourite Bowie personas was Ziggy Stardust – an album that means dancing stupidly around the family room, squealing the lyrics into my dads face as he tapped his toes against the armchair, while mum made late night pancakes. Records were a novelty to a younger me, something parents saved from their youthful years to remind them of all the good times.
And like most, dedicated super fan or virginal listener, I am cherishing MY moments with Bowie – selfishly holding on to a little piece of his magic.
Thankfully, the musical visionary himself, who could not have stood to allow his 26th studio album to be yet another foray into new music, a fusion of all that his skills allowed and all that his mind perceived, no, he had to pen a beautiful love letter to us all, a fine farewell, and a slightly morbid cheerio.
Blackstar is a seven track album, released in full, just two days before Mr David Bowie himself said goodbye for the last time. His illness was kept so well hushed that we were all seemingly blind sighted, stripped of yet another of our musical masters – those that seem so far and few between in today’s industry.
Bowie always created a new character, top to toe. He was always one step ahead, nay, one genre ahead of the pack, a musical fortuneteller. Blackstar is no different. With rumours from producers that Bowie was influenced by the likes of Kendrick Lamar, and that he was indeed meaning for his last album to be his last hoorah, a farewell for the masses, it’s no wonder that its lyrics hit so deep, and its music feels so eery.
The track ‘Lazarus’, along with its haunting film clip, read like a man finally admitting his mortality. Struggling with a reality so finite, by songs end, Bowie finds peace, ‘Just like that Bluebird, Oh I’ll be free’. A man who had no qualms with age itself, who feared only that he has so few years left, David left no experiment unchartered in his final work – giving everything he had for his final album.
‘Girl Loves Me’ is my favourite track. With an indie vibe, it reminded me a British indie rock bands like The Kooks, and kind of a bit The Smiths – but with more experimental fragmenting and harsh instrumental changes.
The instrumentation throughout is a mix of experimental rock and jazz, with a distinctly sci-fi feel, fragmented saxophone riffs throughout make for a sharp musical disparity which further emphasises Bowie’s tug-of-war lyrics – caught between reality and eternity.
With so wide a legacy, no genre left untamed, no heart left untouched, Bowie’s fixation with living forever will be realised, through his legacy, by his music, with this Blackstar.
8/10
Reviewer: Marley Tinnock