Single Review: David Bowie – ‘Love is Lost (Hello Steve Reich Mix)’
2 min read
The man, the legend. That’s how many music fans growing up in the 70’s onwards would describe David Bowie. The fact I’m writing about one of his new releases in 2013 is impressive enough, even for his standards. However, Love is lost (Hello Steve Reich Mix) sounds like an old voice lost in a new world. The two parallels don’t sound in conjunction on paper and they don’t always work as well as they could together musically either.
After the long intro of clapping (it seems) and fragmented electro beats, Bowie comes in after two minutes, with a concerned and strained voice that adds to the growing intensity of the song. The beat changes up and is listenable, but for ten minutes I ask? There seems to be no end to the same tones and decibels of the track, with Bowie emerging in and out, repeating the constant four or five lines that are the only present lyrics in the song.
David Bowie’s stature within the music world has already been cemented long ago, so he doesn’t tarnish his reputation dipping into this track. But at the same time you question why he and James Murphy have collaborated on a song that is instantly forgettable, and (pardon the pun) goes on and on like a broken record. In the single one of Bowie’s few lyrics was the question “what have you done?”. After ten minutes of this song, I was asking myself the same. Not the worst song you’re going to hear this year, but definitely not the best.
