Photo by Casey Pierce
The world has now been without David Bowie or Prince for just over a year now. Their iconic personas and music still live on, however, cutting through the darkness of our times and bridging gaps between fans of all sorts of genres. That’s why country songwriter Luke Dick has written a new tribute EP about both artists under his indie moniker Republican Hair.
Entitled The Prince and the Duke, the five-track EP is out July 14th. Republican Hair has already shared the Prince-inspired cut “Miss Prince”, which dropped on the late artist’s birthday, June 7th. On June 16th — the 25th anniversary of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars — he’ll release his Bowie tribute track “Constellation”. Ahead of the official due date, Consequence of Sound is happy to premiere the song today.
“Constellation” is a dreamy new wave track with guitars that bend like the light from distant stars streaking across the universe. The lyrics find Dick reflecting on the inspiration Bowie provided while he was alive, and the whether the late musician has found peace out amongst the twinkling lights. “I’m down here looking for inspiration/ Just a space cadet searching for my place,” Dick sings. “Just wondering, wondering, wondering, how does it feel/ Now that you’re a constellation?”
As Dick explains to CoS,
“Bowie’s last couple records were these really somber endeavors that dealt with the theme of death. I’m not sure if there’s ever been another artist of Bowie’s stature to dig in and make death a subject as they are ACTUALLY dying. It’s really a testament to Bowie’s curiosity and creative inventiveness. In so much of his body of work was this feeling of earthly transience. We’re here for a second, and we all feel a little uneasy — not at home. That’s what I always took from his celestial themes. When they named a constellation after him when he died, it was a perfect kind of cosmic tribute I found inspiring. So I wrote ‘Constellation’ as a conversation with the spirit of Bowie, living in a constellation or beyond space and time. Yelling out across the void to see if it gets any easier out there.”
Listen to “Constellation” via the visualizer by Casey Pierce below.
