DAVID J
Estranged (Heyday)
Reviewed by DJ Johnson

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Achingly beautiful, touchingly introspective and ultimately cathartic for any listener open to the experience, Estranged may just deserve tag "creative masterpiece." Former Bauhaus and Love & Rockets bassist David J knew this was going to be something special. In fact, he believed in it so much he auctioned off all the relics of his Bauhaus days on E-Bay to finance the recording sessions. Quite a compelling story, and one that will be a tragedy if too few people buy the disc. I'm going outside my accepted job description on this one to wave flags and jump up and down because you deserve to hear this. It's not peppy and happy, as you probably figured out while examining his resume. It's rich, full, powerful and mysterious, often majestic and almost always profound. David suggests we "let the wind take the feather" as a gentle, distant slide guitar becomes the wind and we become the feather, and that's the magic of this music. You don't listen to it, you experience it on an emotional level and, if you allow yourself to, you escape into its world of drive-by lovers, contagious dreams and inviting wilderness. I'm still there and I'm not sure I want to come back just yet. This is almost a sure thing come "Top-5 of the year" time.

© 2003 - DJ Johnson