BBE Music is thrilled to announce Modern Love, a tribute album to Bowie, out May 28th. In conjunction with the announcement, BBE present We Are KING’s cosmic, open and airy cover of “Space Oddity.”
Featuring an array of artists such as Jeff Parker, We Are KING, Meshell Ndegeocello, Helado Negro, Khruangbin, Matthew Tavares, L’Rain, Nia Andrews and more, Modern Love seeks to champion his lesser known connection to soul, R&B, jazz, funk, and gospel. The prominent jazz influences throughout Bowie’s final album, Blackstar, were a key inspiration for curating this collection of reimagined Bowie songs with these artists. The resulting album is an eclectic tribute featuring a group of artists who not only fit together creatively, but who, like Bowie, straddle different worlds musically, with soul and jazz at their core.
Modern Love offers a fresh look at Bowie’s diverse and transcendent career, aiming to highlight the often overlooked relationship between his back catalogue and musical genres traditionally pioneered by artists of color. The project was curated by music executive and DJ Drew McFadden, alongside BBE Music founder Peter Adarkwah. “I felt that the connection between Bowie and R&B, jazz, funk, gospel and all things soulful, had never really been explored before — at least not so much in covers, which tend to lean more towards rock and pop,” says McFadden. “Certainly, there’s been plenty of Bowie covers over the years, but none that have really tapped into what seems to have been a big part of his core musical style and direction.“
We Are KING’s cover of Bowie’s surprise 1972 hit, “Space Oddity,” is a paean to this wholly singular and somewhat eccentric anthem. Smooth, subtle and assured, their version remains true to the original, while blending in just enough soul to make it their own. “There were so many amazing Bowie compositions to choose from but ‘Space Oddity’ has always been our favourite. It’s so visual; it has always felt like time travel in a song,” explain Amber and Paris Strother, who released their debut album as We Are KING in 2016 and have since worked with the likes of Robert Glasper, Corinne Bailey Rae, Bilal and The Foreign Exchange, among many others. “It tells such a vivid and imaginative story of Major Tom’s trip through space and it was such a cool experience to reimagine what it’d be like on the voyage.”
Pre-orders for Modern Love will begin this month.
Stream/Purchase We Are KING’s cover of “Space Oddity”
Keep your mind open.
[Thanks to Sam at Pitch Perfect PR.]