NO PLAN - EP

Released on the year anniversary of David Bowie's final album, Blackstar, No Plan contains the last recordings Bowie ever completed. This amounts to three songs, all written for his Lazarus musical and recorded during the Blackstar sessions. To round out this meager selection -- and to underscore its connection to Lazarus -- No Plan opens with the version of "Lazarus" from Blackstar before running through the new numbers. "No Plan" is a gorgeous, moody midtempo cut with a soulful undercurrent, "Killing a Little Time" is its opposite, offering dense dissonant guitar and a spiderweb of rhythms, and "When I Met You" closes out the proceedings with a glance back toward the sound of Scary Monsters. If these songs don't feel like a surprise -- they're very much worthy outtakes from Blackstar -- they nevertheless provide a bittersweet coda to Bowie's 21st century comeback. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine

• Genre: Pop
• Format: Vinyl
• Released: 04/21/2017
• RSD Release Date: n/a