The Next Day

The anticipation is over! David Bowie is back with The Next Day, his first output of new material in a decade. We all know how these things can go--when there's artist with a lengthy career who has been on hiatus it is usually quite the challenge to come back as relevant or perhaps resist the temptation to return as a caricature of oneself. I can definitely think of a few bands that seem to be coasting on their past laurels and sound like a band doing an impersonation of themselves. Nonetheless, The Next Day is not going to be mindblowing--it's Bowie. We have followed him through many phases and its hard to conceive what he has left to do. What I can say is that this is a solid album throughout, without any weak points or lulls. If you like Berlin-Era Bowie, then you are in for a treat! The first song, which is the title track, sounds the like it could be a B-side from Heroes. Take notice of the tongue-in-cheek, obscured nod to that exact era just in the cover art alone. Yet unlike the Eno treatment of Heroes or Low, this album has been systematically stripped of eeriness, trading discomfort for pleasure at every turn. Perhaps this is the quality I like most about it, as I want to listen to it everyday. It's a suiting "end of winter" pick. And pleasure it does deliver, as nobody knows how to do classic Bowie like Bowie and Visconti, the two life-long collaborators sifting through their past, picking elements that relate to what Bowie is now: an elder statesman who made a conscious decision to leave innovation behind long ago. Overall, The Next Day neither enhances nor diminishes anything that came before, it's merely a sweet coda to a towering career. Check it out: Buy your copy here.