Iggy Pop, one of of punk and alternative rock’s most important figures, has announced the impending release of new album Free. It is the predecessor to 2016’s Post Pop Depression, one of the artist’s most highly praised collection of songs.
But, the fans are in for a set of surprises. This, at least if we go by the snippet of music that has been released and by the words of the great man himself.
“I wanted to be free. I know that’s an illusion, and that freedom is only something you feel, but I have lived my life thus far in the belief that that feeling is all that is worth pursuing; all that you need – not happiness or love necessarily, but the feeling of being free. So this album just kind of happened to me, and I let it happen,” the Godfather of Punk says.
The 90 second clip of music that has been released bares little resemblance to Iggy Pop’s frantic songs that he has earned fame for. Instead the music focuses on setting a gloomy mood akin to the meditative final credits of an epic war movie.
Iggy Pop has recently spoken about Post Pop Depression, the tour that accompanied it and its overall meaning to his career. The Josh Homme collaboration was well received and praised as something of a successor to Iggy’s most famous two releases The Idiot and Lust for life, albums produced by David Bowie. The Stooges front man says that the album and subsequent touring represented a cleansing process. He also went on to say that the warm reception to the record helped him achieve a new level of confidence.
This confidence looks to have spilled over into Iggy Pop’s new album Free. It is an album that by the sound of it shares little to no resemblance of previous releases, but that, nonetheless, leaves the artist unchained and seeking new avenues of expression. The release is supposedly a join effort between Iggy and a number of other artists. We are yet to see exactly what the singer’s role on the record will be.
Less than 2 minutes of music is not enough to base an opinion on. Especially when that music is made up largely of ambient sounds. But, given the tremendous career of Iggy Pop, his successful past collaborations with artists like Jarvis Cocker, Josh Homme, Peaches or Goran Bregovic, we are anxious and confident about where the music will take us.
This sounds exciting if you are a Iggy Pop fan. It doesn’t sound exactly like Lust for Life, the Idiot, or the Stooges. But, it is cut from the same cloth. As old as Iggy is, he can still produce some incredible music.
I would not be surprised in fact if Iggy Pop manages to make the best albums of his career in the upcoming years. He’s already started to get the ball rolling on that with Post Pop Depression.
Hearing the change in style from that album to James Bond (of the Free album), I can’t help but feel that some of Iggy’s greatest talents could have easily gone unnoticed. I mean… everyone knows him as the Godfather of punk or something. And that’s true. But he can do such great things when tackling other styles.