LCD Soundsystem frontman James Murphy has revealed that he and David Bowie nearly recorded an album together.

The pair had worked together a few times prior to Bowie’s death. Murphy recorded Bowie’s backing vocals for Arcade Fire‘s “Reflektor” and Murphy remixed Bowie’s The Next Day track “Love Is Lost“. Murphy also later played percussion on Bowie’s final album Blackstar, but has revealed that he was initially meant to have a bigger role.

Advertisement

Speaking to Annie Mac on BBC Radio 1, Murphy said, “He was so gracious and so friendly… I had an email friendship with David Bowie, which one of the weirder, more amazing things.”

Regards his Blackstar role Murphy explained, he “got overwhelmed” when asked by Bowie and Tony Visconti to co-produce the record.

Explaining that he didn’t feel like he “belonged” in that position, Murphy also revealed that there had also been plans to record a collaborative album together. “I reached out to David and said, ‘I’d love to do a record just me and you’,” Murphy explained. “He said, ‘It’s funny you mention that, please look me up when you get back to New York’.” They met up, Murphy says, but Bowie had already started working on what would later become Blackstar.

Advertisement

Listen to the full interview with Murphy here. The Bowie talk begins at the 18:30 mark.

The August 2017 issue of Uncut is now on sale in the UK – featuring David Bowie on the cover. Elsewhere in the issue, there are new interviews with The War On Drugs, Steve Earle and Jah Wobble, we countdown Radiohead’s 30 Greatest Songs and remember Gregg Allman. We review Peter Perrett, Afghan Whigs, ZZ Top and Peter Gabriel. Our free CD features 15 tracks of the month’s best music, including Peter Perrett, Floating Points, Bedouine, Public Service Broadcasting, Broken Social Scene and more.