David Bowie Broods and Chants in Latest Track for ‘The Last Panthers’

If the 40-odd second teaser is anything to go by, David Bowie is trading in his usually uptempo rock tunes for a more broody, almost sinister tone on the title track “Blackstar” for French crime thriller The Last Panthers. The track, which will serve as the show’s theme music, sees the rock veteran return after almost two decades to record for TV/film. His last such project was in 1993 when he recorded The Buddha of Suburbia soundtrack. In 1992, he had released the single “Real Cool World” for the film Cool World.

In an earlier statement, Johan Renck, director of the six-part crime series had said, “I was looking for one of the icons of my youth to write the music for the title sequence, but was presented with a God. His [Bowie’s] first response was precise, engaged and curious. The piece of music he laid before us embodied every aspect of our characters and the series itself ”“ dark, brooding, beautiful and sentimental.”

Although the full track will be released when the show premieres in November, the 40-second teaser of “Blackstar” has Bowie chanting “On the day of execution /Only women kneel and smile/At the centre of it all/Your eyes” against a noir soundscape of echoes.

Earlier in August, Bowie was also said to be penning songs for The Spongebob Musical, a theatrical adaptation of Nickelodeon’s most lovable sea sponge.