Something is just not right about this week. David Bowie has passed away.
Yesterday I bought his final album, Blackstar. Requiem, more like. It's very dark, esoteric, hauntingly cryptic, a bit disturbing, and possibly the most artistic of his endeavors. The corresponding videos are also amazing, especially Blackstar.
Blackstar:
Spent a good part of this afternoon trying to decrypt the lyrics to Blackstar -- the first line is "In the Villa of Ormen" -- and discovered a fascinating photography page on Tumblr called the Villa of Ormen. The Villa of Ormen page doesn't say who is responsible for collecting and posting the images found there; it could have been Bowie himself for all I know.
One particular photo by Polish photographer Michalina Wozniak grabbed me as possibly the inspiration to a scene in Bowie's Lazarus video. In the photo a naked woman is partially hidden in a dark wardrobe. In the video Bowie hides himself inside a large wooden wardrobe.
Lazarus:
Following the trail of crumbs to some very interesting places.
Links:
- David Bowie - Google News search
- David Bowie VEVO - YouTube
- Michalina Wozniak
- Villa of Ormen - Tumblr page
- Blackstar - Genius Lyrics
- The Final Mysteries of David Bowie's Blackstar - Elvis, Crowley and 'the villa of Ormen' - The Guardian