For his latest record, Detroit's godfather of punk is trading in his signature sweat-soaked hedonism for a somber and meditative sound that lends itself to search and restore more than “Search and Destroy.”
Iggy Pop announced the details surrounding his forthcoming release, Free, which is slated for a Sept. 6 release via Loma Vista.
Described in the press release as being “somber and contemplative,” Free follows Iggy's highest-charting record, 2016's Post Pop Depression, and, by the sounds of the record's first single and titular track, it's a far cry from most everything on his rock ‘n’ roll resume. In fact, it's downright ambient.
“This is an album in which other artists speak for me, but I lend my voice...” Iggy says of the record's contributors, as he has enlisted jazz player Leron Thomas, as well as frequent collaborator, guitarist Sarah Lipstate, who makes shimmering synth under the moniker Noveller.
He goes on to say that much of Free happened to him and is the result of facing lifelong “chronic insecurity” following his Post Pop Depression tour.
“But I also felt drained,” he says. “And I felt like I wanted to put on shades, turn my back, and walk away. 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 far this year, Iggy has released a coffee blend collaboration with Stumptown Coffee and appeared as a caffeine-fiending zombie alongside Bill Murray, Tom Waits, and Tilda Swinton in the Jim Jarmusch flick, The Dead Don't Die. The refined punk star will also release Til Wrong Feels Right, a book of lyrics and process commentary due out on Penguin Random House this October.
Listen to “Free” below.
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