Free

Album review

Has James Osterberg, a.k.a. Iggy Pop, really found his freedom? More than anything, has he not been restricted by his rock’n’roll wardrobe, his reputation as the Godfather of Punk and his status as a living legend? At the age of 72 Iggy starts his 18th studio album with one simple statement: “I wanna be free.” In 2016 his album Post Pop Depression, produced by Josh Homme from Queens Of The Stone Age, revealed Iggy Pop’s dark and mysterious side, in contrast to his usual image as a tai chi-addicted rockstar… With this short record (only 33 minutes long), Iggy is even more introverted, contemplative and most of all intimate. It’s an atypical record which was produced in close collaboration with the guitarist Sarah Lipstate and the jazz trumpeter Leron Thomas, who has created a hushed, moody atmosphere for him. “This is an album in which other artists speak for me, but I lend my voice. By the end of the tours following Post Pop Depression, I felt sure that I had rid myself of the problem of chronic insecurity that had dogged my life and career for too long. But I also felt drained. 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 this album just kind of happened to me, and I let it happen.” Between art rock, steamy jazz and spoken word (he recites Lou Reed’s poem ‘We Are the People’ and Dylan Thomas’ ‘Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night’), Iggy lets his melancholic crooner’s voice explore all kinds of sentiments. In fact, Free sometimes sounds a lot like The Idiot, his synth-drenched masterpiece from 1977 produced with David Bowie in Berlin... Forty years later, Iggy Pop has chosen to liberate himself by confounding his friends and enemies alike, signing one of his most obscure and personal records to date. © Marc Zisman/Qobuz