Watch David Bowie’s New ‘Lazarus’ Video
David Bowie has premiered the video for "Lazarus," the latest single from his new Blackstar album.
The video arrives a little less than a month after Bowie premiered the audio for the song, and comes on the heels of a short film built around the album's title track. The full-length Blackstar LP, Bowie's first collection of new original material since 2013's The Next Day, is scheduled to arrive tomorrow.
The "Lazarus" video further fleshes out the story begun in the "Blackstar" clip, in which Bowie plays a character described as a "doomed, blind prophet" who's been imprisoned and sentenced to death by crucifixion. As before, Bowie spends portions of the video blinded by gauze, with a pair of creepy-looking dots affixed on top where his eyes should be, although he's also seen writing something with a fountain pen and doing an interpretive dance in a leotard.
As he did with the "Blackstar" video, Bowie turned to director Jonathan Renck for "Lazarus," a collaboration Renck enthused about in the press release announcing the new clip. "One could only dream about collaborating with a mind like that; let alone twice," said Renck. "Intuitive, playful, mysterious and profound... I have no desire to do any more videos knowing the process never ever gets as formidable and fulfilling as this was. I’ve basically touched the sun."
As previously reported, "Lazarus" is also the title of Bowie's recent stage project, which stars Dexter lead Michael C. Hall in a new adaptation of Walter Tevis' The Man Who Fell to Earth. The play is currently showing at the New York Theater Workshop, with its run scheduled to close Jan. 20.
David Bowie Albums Ranked Worst to Best
Rock's Worst Grammy Snubs