UPDATE: Late last night, David Bowie confirmed some of the news on the new album, and debunked some other aspects. Here’s word from Bowie HQ:
“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”.
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Sometimes, Christmas comes early. This year, it’ll arrive in January.
Multiple news sites are relaying a report from The Times of London this morning that reveals a new album from David Bowie, titled Blackstar, will arrive on the iconic musician’s 69th birthday, January 8.
The new LP will follow up, rather quickly, Bowie’s last album, 2013’s The Next Day, which was the Duke’s first in a decade. The Next Day was announced on Bowie’s 66th birthday.
Blackstar reportedly contains seven tracks and clocks in at 45 minutes, and it was recorded at New York City’s the Magic Shop with a host of jazz musicians. The title track, which doubles as the theme for Sky Atlantic’s new British TV crime drama The Last Panthers, comes in at 10 minutes and features, according to the Times: “Gregorian chants, a soul section, various electronic beat and bleeps, and Bowie’s distinctive vocals. There is no radio edit; it’s all or nothing.”
The publication adds: “Blackstar may be the oddest work yet from [Bowie],” and that it’s “an album of long, jazzy jams mixed with the kind of driving beat pioneered by ’70s German bands Can and Kraftwerk.”
Listen to a snippet of the title track below; it’s set for a November 17 November 20 release.