On October 5th, an album called ‘Retrospective: Selected Recordings 1973-2023’ will be released, with recordings from those years by Bryan Ferry, ex Roxy Music. It will be quintuple in the CD edition. Half a dozen previews have been revealed and are already compiled on streaming platforms.
The last one has a special value. It is ‘Star’, the only new song on the set and the first original composition by Bryan Ferry since 2014, when ‘Avanmore’ was released. In 2018 he did release an album of orchestral arrangements.
This is a collaboration with Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross, which is almost the same as saying it’s a Nine Inch Nails production. The track started out as a sketch by Reznor and Ross, which Bryan Ferry completed with guest vocalist and Glasgow painter Amelia Barratt. It certainly has the dark, shadowy signature of NIN, though they aren’t credited on Spotify. On Apple Music, Trent and Atticus are listed as “bassists and programmers,” among many other musicians.
Although the star of the video is clearly Amelia Barratt, Bryan Ferry has recorded more material with this artist: “I met her a couple of years ago when I helped her record her audiobook in my studio. I was really impressed with her writing and this is the first song we did together. I’m really excited about this new work and there’s a lot more to come.”
You can get to know Amelia Barratt better in the chiaroscuro video that was just released for ‘Star’, or also through her website.
