Bryan Ferry has returned to share a new song, “Star,” serving as his first original single in a decade.
“Star” originally began as a sketch from Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross, and Bryan Ferry recruited painter and writer Amelia Barratt to lend her vocals to the hypnotic, thumping track. Ferry and Barratt share almost every line, muttered in a droll and deadpan way as a contrast to the instrumental’s buoyant groove.
“‘Star’ is a collaboration with the painter and writer Amelia Barratt,” Ferry said about the song in a statement. “A couple of years ago I helped her record an audiobook here in my studio. I was very impressed by her writing, and this is the first song we did together. I’m very excited about this new work — there’s a lot more to come.” Listen to “Star” below.
The song serves as Ferry’s first original tune since the 2014 album Avonmore. It arrives as a single from Bryan Ferry’s upcoming box set, which is a massive collection (81 songs, to be exact) of Ferry’s solo work across the last 50 years. He previously shared a cover of Bob Dylan’s “She Belongs to Me” when announcing the box set last month.
The 81-song collection, titled Retrospective: Selected Recordings 1973-2023, is out on October 25th. Pre-order it here.