by Dylan Pennell (@dylan_pennell)
David Bowie’s sensual rock classic Diamond Dogs may have been released in 1974, but just like Bowie’s seemingly endless career could attest, it sounds more vital now than ever. Maybe this is why Cosmic Dreamer curated a recent 7” between Jordan Geiger’s Hospital Ships, The Dan Ryan, and visual artist Veronica De Jesus celebrating Bowie’s songwriting in all of its versatile and timeless glory. While The Dan Ryan pays homage with a lovely Kinks-indebted cover of the early Bowie gem “In the Heat of the Morning,” it’s Hospital Ships’ cover of the typically slinky and seductive “We Are the Dead” that seems to announce itself as something different entirely. Bending the glam-rock edges of this Bowie deep cut, Hospital Ships reimagine the stutter and strut of the original for an introverted and caustic synth fete. Oddly enough despite the corrosive sounding mechanics of the song and the bruised vocal performance, the Ships somehow manage to make this song shine in much the same way that Bowie did: through sheer wit and imagination.
Limited Edition Vol. 3: The Dan Ryan & Hospital Ships is out March 9th via Cosmic Dreamer Music.