Iggy Pop has shared a short but mesmerizing new song, Free, which will serve as the title-track for his next album, out September 6th via Loma Vista.
Free finds Iggy Pop exploring ambient soundscapes tinged with jazz, as soft synths sail underneath a swell of horns and a lead trumpet wanders off on its own path. Iggy Pops vocal contributions are simple yet effective in this setting, with the rocker uttering, I wanna be free at the beginning and end of the tune.
Free, which is available to pre-order, marks a stark sonic shift for Iggy Pop following his 2016 album, Post Pop Depression, which was produced by Josh Homme. Iggy Pop recorded Free with jazz trumpeter and composer Leron Thomas and Noveller, the solo project of guitarist Sarah Lipstate.
In a statement, Iggy Pop described Free as an album in which other artists speak for me, but I lend my voice. He said the album came about after the extensive touring in support of Post Pop Depression, which helped him rid myself of the problem of chronic insecurity that had dogged my life and career for too long, but also left him exhausted.
I felt like I wanted to put on shades, turn my back, and walk away, Iggy Pop continued. I wanted to be free. I know thats 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.