Shearwater have performed David Bowie’s 1979 album Lodger in full.
The Texas indie-rock band were filmed at The Onion’s AV Club in London putting their own spin on the record – which was the last instalment of the late rock icon’s Berlin trilogy.
Lead singer Jonathan Meiburg admits that, while Lodger could be described as “eclectic to the point of being slapdash” and of a weaker production quality than its predecessors Heroes or Low, the record cheered him up while he was travelling the world.
He says in his AV Club essay: “I rediscovered David Bowie’s Lodger last year after some rough traveling. In the span of a couple of months I’d had unnerving encounters with the world’s largest spiders in Guyana and a jaguar in Brazil – I’d hugged my knees in terror in Hyderabad’s traffic and asked for divine intervention on a jetliner circling the Persian Gulf as it dumped its fuel for an emergency landing.
“When I finally got home, I wanted to hide in a corner with a blanket over my head and never go outside again. Listening to Lodger over and over somehow helped the world seem less frightening.”
Meiburg adds: “Maybe Lodger was the gift Bowie had for making you feel that his mania, his confusion, had something to do with your own, that no matter how strange and isolated you felt, you weren’t actually alone there. In the weirdest and best way, it’s inspirational music.”
Bowie died after an 18-month battle with cancer in January. He was 69.
Shearwater return to Europe next month in support of their latest album, Jet Plane and Oxbow.
Shearwater tour dates 2016
Jun 11: Antwerpen Bourla, Belgium
Jun 12: London Field Day Festival, UK
Jun 14: Rotterdam Rotown, Netherlands
Jun 15: Aachen Musikbunker, Germany
Jun 16: Kriens B-Sides Festival, Switzerland
Jun 17: Sion Le Port Franc, Switzerland
Jun 22: Zagreb INmusic Festival, Croatia
Jun 23: Ljubljana Kino Siska, Slovenia
Jun 24: Ebensee Kino Ebensee, Austria
Jun 26: Budapest A38, Hungary
Jun 27: Vienna Arena, Austria
Jun 28: Munchen Strom, Germany
Jun 29: Munster Gleis 22, Germany
Jun 30: Groningen Vera, Netherlands
Jul 01: The Hague Paard van Troje, Netherlands
Jul 02: Elsloo Conincx Pop Festival, Netherlands
