You have to admire David J’s desire to remain relevant. It is very easy for musicians at a certain point in their career to adopt the attitude that they have done their thing, said their piece, made their mark and slowly retire to a more comfortable musical place to trade in past glories and just rest on their laurels. Not so our David. Not only did he offer up two timely and relevant releases for Record Store Day in the shape of the remastered and expanded version of V For Vendetta and the poignant single Thoughts and Prayers, but putting The Auteur back under the spotlight also brings its original story and underlying meaning bang up to date. Asking thought leader and agent of change, Rose McGowan, along for the ride was also an inspired move.
The Auteur is a gorgeous and shimmering sea of musical tones and textures that flows rather than grooves its way forward. David J’s stark sounding vocals are the perfect juxtaposition to the soft music below him and the sensuous voice of Rose McGowan alongside him.
For a man associated with such dark and brooding, avant garde music as Bauhaus, this is a reminder of the fact that he has travelled a long way since those early days but his touch is still one of the beguiling and otherworldly, the oddly beautiful and the beautifully odd.
