Album Review: Iggy Pop – Free

Not many artists are inspired by exhaustion, but Iggy Pop always was a wildcard. After the grind of touring Post Pop Depression, he's exercising his desire for freedom by trying something entirely new. 

Free is unlike anything Iggy Pop’s attempted previously. It relies heavily on contributions from experimental guitarist Noveller and trumpeter Leron Thomas, to such an extent that Pop has described Free as an album where others speak for him but he lends his voice. Considering his recent collaborations with diverse luminaries such as Oneohtrix Point Never, Underworld, Songhoy Blues and, erm, William Shatner, this about face shouldn’t come as too much of a shock. From the opening title track's peaceful swathes of guitar drone punctuated by Leron Thomas’ lonely muted trumpet and only a few sparse words from Pop, it quickly becomes clear that this is about as far away from Pop’s seminal rock output as can be imagined. There’s some downright slinky jazz on the likes of James Bond and impressionistic imagery on two-minute snapshots like The Dawn. An escapist record that’s not among Pop’s most exhilarating, Free still makes for a good wind-down chapter in an extraordinary life story.