MUSIC idol David Bowie broke years of silence and speculation today to release his first new single in a decade – with an album to follow.
The star, who shot to fame in the late ’60s with Space Oddity, surprised fans by suddenly releasing a new recording, Where Are We Now?, on his 66th birthday.
The track appeared on iTunes at 5am with the accompanying atmospheric video premiering on his website.
It was instantly well received by his devotees, with long-time fan Boy George declaring it “bloody gorgeous”.
Bowie’s last album of new material, Reality, was released in 2003 and after touring the songs he largely withdrew from the public eye, concentrating on his family life as he lived in New York.
Unsurprisingly, 10 years since he was last heard, Bowie’s voice sounds older and more world-weary.
The melancholic song sees him reviewing his time in Berlin – where he created some of his most groundbreaking music in the 1970s – as he lists some of his haunts with the repeated line “just walking the dead”.
And in the video directed by Tony Oursler, with the musician’s pensive face projected on to a puppet, he appears to be almost biting back tears as he looks back on his life.
