David Bowie.
Photo: Michael Loccisano/Getty Images
Last month, David Bowie released a short film for “★,” the title track off his upcoming album and a most unusual single comprised of ten minutes of moaning and droning and ominous jazz-drumming. Things aren’t getting any cheerier on the second single, the six-minute “Lazarus,” which again harkens back to the cathartic jazz-rock of the Berlin trilogy and Station to Station, with shades of Scary Monsters (and Super Creeps). “Look up here, I’m in heaven,” Bowie croons over elegiac, reverb-steeped horns. “I’ve got scars that can’t be seen.” The video premieres January 7, 2016, the day before the album drops (also Bowie’s 69th birthday). As Bowie says, “Now, ain’t that just like me.”