This is a cut from The Next Day, a remix by James Murphy for DFA featuring the one and only Steve Reich, sampling his ‘Clapping Music’ and a soupcon of Bowie’s ‘Ashes to Ashes’. The clown is faded- the hat may be jaunty, but love is lost.It’s at once a jump forward and a look back, which is exactly where Bowie was in 2013.
The video is typically ominous too, rife with symbolism. Was Bowie divesting himself of the old masks he used to wear? Was he breaking with the past, the better to move forward? Possibly. We can only guess. But by superimposing his face onto old costumes, he seemed to be playing with the retro -futurism he once used as he slid into his Ziggy persona. This video, a collaboration by Barnaby Roper and Bowie himself in Manhattan, is wonderful. The puppets were created by Jim Henson s Workshop. You can’t cosplay yourself.
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