Heathen

10/10. This is one of my favorite albums. Recorded during and after 9/11, you can certainly see reflections of that event throughout the album. Though he was in upstate New York during the attacks, he lived a few blocks from Ground Zero and was even the opener for The Concert for New York City following the attacks, where he performed an amazing rendition of Heroes. The album is a return to that Ashes to Ashes atmospheric art pop that made me fall in love with Bowie. It’s some of his strongest storytelling, it perfectly captures the shared anxiety and dread in a post-9/11 world. Songs like Sunday and Slow Burn emanate unease, grief, and a search for humanity. With all that being said, there remains a hopeful undertone to this album, a hope for the future that was certainly influenced by the birth of his daughter in 2000. This album also saw him reunite with Tony Visconti, whom he hadn’t with since 1980. Fittingly, it blends some of that Earthling, new age electronic experimentation with warm strings and pianos, an interesting and uneasy combination. This album is also one of the most drum-heavy of Bowie’s career, with almost every song featuring incredible moments that let the drums shine. Some of my other favorites from this album are Cactus, Slip Away, and Neil Young cover, I’ve Been Waiting for You, a tender song in a heavy album, no doubt dedicated to his wife and daughter